Objective To investigate the effect of elemene on mRNA expressions of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6) and caspase-8 in tumor tissues of mice bearing hepatoma H22.Methods Forty BALB/c mice models bearing hepatoma H22 were established by subcutaneous inoculating tumor cells.Forty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 4 groups:model group,low-and high-elemene dosage groups,and cisplatin group.The tumors after executing mice were weighted.The mRNA expressions of TRAF6 and caspase-8 in tumor tissues were detected by quantitative real-time reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results The dosage of elemene could inhibit tumor growth.The inhibition ratio of cancer in the low-and high-elemene dosage and cisplatin group was 24.2％,27.4％,and 28.2％,respectively.It reduced significantly tumor weights(P ＜0.01).Compared to the model group,the expression level of TRAF6 mRNA on tumors was decreased significantly,while the expression level of caspase-8 mRNA was increased significantly in the other groups(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The present results indicated that molecular mechanism of inhibition of liver cancer growth treated by elemene might be through down-regulating mRNA expressions of TRAF6 and caspase-8,promoting tumor cells apoptosis,and achieving the anti-tumor effect.