Abstract： Objective To investigate the expression and relationship of livin and mutant p53 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The expression of livin and mutant p53 were evaluated using the SP immunohistochemistry in 80 HCC tissue, 39 hepatic cirrhosis tissue, 33 normal tissue beside the hemangiomas of liver. Results The integrated A average results showed that the intension of positive expression of livin aligned by turns was HCC tissue (Median=5.09; P25～P75=3.06～8.28), hepatic cirrhosistissue(Median=3.05; P25～P75=2.49～4.25), normal liver tissue(Median=1.99; P25～P75=1.54～2.54) (P<0.001), respectively. It also showed that the intension of positive expression of p53 in HCC tissue (Median=43.13; P25～P75=20.41～78.53) was higher than that in hepatic cirrhosis tissue (Median=20.30;P25～P75=14.90～28.08), as well as in that of normal liver tissue (Median=15.52;P25～P75=12.81～21.80) (P <0.001), but it made no sense in statistics between hepatic cirrhosis tissue and normal tissue of liver. The expression of livin was obviously correlated with p53 in HCC tissue(r=0.241, P<0.05). Conclusion The overexpressian of livin and p53 and their positive correlation showed that livin may play a crucial role in the origin and development of HCC in coordination with p53.