Functional genetic variants of DNA repair genes may alter the host DNA repair capacity, and thus influence efficiency of therapies. We genotyped eight potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes (i.e. ERCC1, XPA, XPC, XPD and XPG) involved in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway in 496 Japanese gastric cancer patients, and assessed overall survival and recurrence-free survival. The combined effects of risk genotypes of these eight SNPs in Japanese patients were further replicated in 356 North-American gastric cancer patients. In Japanese patients, we found that the XPC rs2228000 TT genotype was associated with shorter overall survival [hazards ratio (HR) = 1.75, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.07-2.86] and recurrence-free survival (HR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.19-3.95), compared with CC/CT genotypes, and the XPG rs17655 CC genotype was associated with shorter overall survival (HR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.08-2.36), compared with GG/CG genotypes. The number of observed risk genotypes in the combined analysis was associated with shorter overall survival and recurrence-free survival in a dose-response manner (P-trend = 0.006 and P-trend < 0.000) in Japanese patients; specifically, compared with those with = 1 risk genotypes, those with = 2 risk genotypes showed markedly shorter overall survival (HR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.18-2.70) and recurrence-free survival (HR = 2.80, 95% CI = 1.66-4.73). The association between >= 2 risk genotypes and shorter overall survival was not significant (HR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.82-1.94) in North-American patients, but the trends were similar in these two groups of patients. These data show that functional SNPs in NER core genes may impact survival in Japanese gastric cancer patients.