Abstract: Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that interaction of genetic and environmental factor contribute to susceptibility. Protein kinase C β (PKCβ)gene has been reported to be associated with several autoimmune diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs16972959 of PKCβ, show significant evidence for association with RA in a Chinese population. Methods We conducted a case-control study and a total of 508 RA patients and 503 healthy controls were finally recruited. The genotyping of PKCβ rs16972959 polymorphism was detected by TaqMan allele discrimination assay. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16.0 software. Results The prevalence of PKCβ (rs16972959) polymorphism was not differentially distributed between RA patients and controls in either allele frequency, with odds ratio (95% CI) of 0.928(0.761-1.131) and P value of 0.460, or genotype frequency (GG vs AA:P=0.839, OR=1.054, 95% CI:0.632-1.759; GA vs AA:P=0.888, OR=0.963, 95% CI:0.570-1.627). The allele frequency of rs16972959 was significantly associated with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) positive phenotype as compare to ACCP negative patients (P=0.041). Moreover, we found that the genotype distribution of rs16972959 was significantly associated with rheumatoid factor (RF) positive patients (P=0.042). However, we failed to detect associations of rs16972959 polymorphism with anti-keratin antibody (AKA). Conclusions These findings suggest that the PKCβ rs16972959 is not associated with RA susceptibility in a Chinese Han population. We found association of sorne laboratory features with rs16972959.