Objective To investigate the association of primary liver cancer(PLC)with the mutations of HBV precore and basic core promoter(BCP)genes.Methods The serum markers of hepatitis B and the quantities of serum HBV DNA were detected in 144 HBsAg-positive PLC patients.The precore and BCP gene mutations in patients with HBeAg-negtive and HBV DNA-positive were detected by real-time PCR.One hundred and twenty chronic hepatitis B(CHB)patients were randomly selected to serve as the conol.Results There were 46(3 1.94%)patients with HBeAg-positive and 98(68.06%)patients with HBeAg-negative.In 98 HBeAg-negative patients,56(57.14%)were HBV DNA-positive,in which 43 (76.79%)were with precore 1896 gene mutations,50(89.29%)were with BCP1762/1764 gene mutations.and 38(67.86%)were with both gene mutations.Precore 1896 and BCP1762/1764 gene mutation rates in PLC patients were much higher than those in CHB patients(χ2=9.36 and 5.77,P＜0.05).Conclusion PLC may be associated with the mutations of HBV precore anti BCP genes.