Objective:To investigate the expressions of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) in the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue,cells and serum,and to clarify the significance of OGT in diagnosis and treatment of HCC.Methods:Western blotting method was used to detect the expression levels of OGT in 20 samples of HCC tissue and matched non-tumor tissue,8 hepatoma cell lines and normal liver (human) cell lysate.The expression levels of serum OGT were detected by direct ELISA in 20 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients,20 HCC patients and 20 healthy volunteers.The relationship between the expression levels of protein in HCC tissue,cells and serum and the occurrence and development of tumor were analyzed.Results:The Western blotting results showed there were expressions of OGT in both HCC tissue and matched non-tumor tissue;The positive expression rate of OGT in HCC tissue was significantly higher than that in non-tumor tissue (P＜0.05).There were expressions of OGT in both hepatoma cell lines and normal liver (human) cell lysate;the positive expression rate of OGT in HCC cell lysate was significantly higher than that in the normal liver cell lysate (P＜0.05).The result of direct ELISA showed that the serum OGT levels of the LC and HCC patients were equally higher than that of the healthy volunteers (P＜0.05).Conclusion:OGT highly expresses in HCC tissue and OGT is a promising biomarker for the diagnosis of HCC.