Objective To assess retrospectively the clinical value of androgen receptor (AR) levels in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a prognostic factor of the disease. Methods Fresh HCC tissue and the surrounding liver tissue were obtained surgically from 32 patients with HCC, and preserved in liquid nitrogen. The levels of AR in all specimens were determined by radio-ligand binding assay.Results The median level of AR was 42.8 fmol/mg protein in the cancerous tissue and 48.3 fmol/mg protein in the surrounding non-cancerous liver tissue. The overall survival rate of the patients with AR<30 fmol/mg protein in either HCC or the non-cancerous liver was significantly higher than that of the patients with AR≥30 fmol/mg protein (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). The relative risk on prognosis was 3.27 (P<0.01) for AR level in HCC and 6.06 (P<0.001) for AR level in the non-cancerous tissue. The main prognostic factors except the tumor size were not different between the group with higher AR level and that with lower AR level in HCC. The AR level in HCC had a positive correlation with the tumor size (r=0.44, P<0.05). Conclusions AR can be detected in HCC and the AR status might be a prognostic parameter that provides additional predictive information on the survival. Different AR status might define a real difference of biological characteristics between HCCs.