Objective To investigate the possible role of X-box binding protein (XBP1) expression at mRNA level in the hepatocarcinogenesis. Methods The expression of XBP1 at mRNA level was determined with RT-PCR method in liver carcinoma (42 cases), liver tissue adjacent to carcinoma (15 cases) and normal liver tissue (15 cases). XBP1 mRNA relative expression level was obtained by comparing with GAPDH mRNA level. The correlation between XBP1 expression and clinicopathological features of liver carcinoma were respectively analyzed. Results RT-PCR results showed that the expression of XBP1 mRNA in liver carcinoma cases (0.4396 ±0.0241) was significantly higher that that of liver tissues adjacent to carcinoma (0.4152±0.0252) and normal liver tissue (0.4095 ±0.0149), (F =12.79,P =0.001). No significant differences in the expression of XBP1 were found among different age and sex of the patients, different location, histological types, grade and metastatic status in liver carcinoma (P >0.05). Conclusion Increased expression of XBP1 mRNA is found in liver carcinoma but no correlation could be seen between XBP1 expression and clinicopathological features, which XBP1 is involved in the hepatocarcinogenesis.