Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the diagnostic value of GP73 in gene detection in the patients of primary hepatocellular carcinoma(PHC). METHODS Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was performed to detect the serum level of GP73 and alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) in 105 cases of PHC, 106 cases of hepatic cirrhosis and 102 healthy people. Real-time quantitative (RT-PCR) was used to detect the relative expression of GP73 mRNA in mononuclear cells in peripheral blood of each group. Comparative Ct method was used to estimate the relative expression levels. The liver tissues of normal and PHC were detected at the same time. RESULTS The serum concentrations of GP73 in PHC group were significantly higher than that of cirrhosis patients(P<0.05). The serum AFP concentration in PHC group and cirrhosis group had not statistical difference. Sensitity and specificity of GP73 was 72.7% and 70.8%, respectively. The sensitivity of AFP was 49.8%, the specificity was 95.5%.The sensitivity of GP73 and AFP joint detection was 79.6%, specificity was 80.3%. The GP73 mRNA in whole blood had no significant difference among the three groups, GP73 mRNA expression of hepatocellular carcinoma tissues(12.87) was significant higher than normal liver tissue(1.08)(P<0.01). CONCLUSION GP73 protein has very good diagnostic sensitivity. The joint detection of GP73 and AFP can further improve the early diagnosis performance of liver cancer. The detection of GP73 mRNA in liver tissue samples woule be a good tumor markers for diagnosis of primary liver cancer. But the possibility for trauma and complications is definitely there.