Objective To measure the expression of divalent metal transporter 1( DMT1) in hepatocellular carcinoma( HCC) and to explore its clinical and pathological significance. Methods Fifty-seven liver cancer specimens collected from patients with HCC and preserved in paraffin in Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College from July 1999 to July 2011 were established as HCC tissue group,and 7 specimens of normal liver tissues from autopsy and 8 specimens of liver tissues from patients with intrahepatic bile duct stones and preserved in paraffin were established as normal control group. SP immunohistochemistry was applied to measure the expression of DMT1 in 15 specimens of normal liver tissues and 57 specimens of HCC tissues. One-way analysis of variance was applied to analyze the difference in expression of DMT1 in HCC tissues with varying degrees of differentiation,and χ2test was applied for the comparison of rates;the correlation between expression of DMT1 and tumor size was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results DMT1 in the liver tissues in normal control group was negative or weakly positive,with a positive rate of 20%( 3 /5); in HCC tissue group,the positive rate was78. 9%( 45 /57),with a strong positive rate of 15. 8%( 9 /57); the two groups showed a significant difference in positive rate( P < 0. 05).The expression of DMT1 varied significantly between patients with varying degrees of differentiation in HCC tissues( F = 4. 011,P < 0. 05),while the positive rate of DMT1 showed no significant differences between patients with different clinical stages and with or without blood vessel infiltration( all P > 0. 05). Correlation analysis did not find the correlation between expression of DMT1 and tumor size( r =-0. 047,P> 0. 05). Conclusion The positive expression rate of DMT1 increases significantly in HCC tissues and is closely related to the degree of tumor differentiation,which is potentially valuable for clinical and pathological grading of liver cancer.