Objective To investigate the expression and significance of L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) in human colorectal cancer. Methods Sixty pairs of colorectal cancer tissues and paracancerous tissues were collected from sixty advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients for detecting LAT1 expression. Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemical analysis were used to analyze the expression of LAT1 in colorectal cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. In addition, we also study the relationship between LAT1 expression and the clinical features of sixty patients with colorectal cancer. Results Bioinformatics analysis through GEPIA database suggested that LAT1 mRNA expression was elevated in colorectal cancer. We also observed markedly increased LAT1 mRNA and protein expression in colorectal cancer compared with adjacent normal tissues (P<0.01). In addition, we found high expression of LAT1 protein was closely related to lymphatic metastasis (P<0.05), liver metastasis (P<0.05), and TNM stage (P<0.05). Conclusion LAT1 expression is increased in colorectal cancer and asscciated with tumor metastasis. Key words: L-type amino acid transporter 1; Colorectal cancer; Lymphatic metastasis; Liver metastasis; TNM stage