ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation between the expression of P53 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. MethodsDatabases including The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2016), PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP, and WanFang Data were searched from the inception to January 1st 2016 to collect case-control studies about the correlation between the expression of P53 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, as well as its clinically pathologic features. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results Twelve studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. There were 630 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 253 controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that, the expression of P53 protein were significantly different between the nasopharyngeal carcinoma group and the control group (OR=21.34, 95%CI 13.59 to 33.50, P < 0.000 01), between the nasopharyngeal carcinoma with lymphatic node metastasis group and without lymphatic node metastasis group (OR=3.69, 95%CI 1.67 to 8.17, P=0.001), between the clinical stage Ⅰ to Ⅱ group and the clinical stage Ⅲ to Ⅳ group (OR=0.19, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.49, P=0.000 6). However, there were no significant differences in expression of P53 between the male nasopharyngeal carcinoma group and the female nasopharyngeal carcinoma group (OR=0.92, 95%CI 0.49 to 1.74, P=0.80), and between the < 50 nasopharyngeal carcinoma group and the≥50 nasopharyngeal carcinoma group (OR=1.70, 95%CI 0.70 to 4.11, P=0.24). ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that, the expression of P53 protein is associated with the occurrence, development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and may be positively correlated to degree of tumor malignance. It may be an indicator poor prognosis.