Objective To evaluate the diagnosis value of plasma Dickkopf-1(DKK1)in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)pa-tients.Methods Selected 48 patients with HCC,20 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC),20 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB),and all of them were clinically diagnosed in the Third People’s Hospital of Nantong City,chose 20 cases of health examination as healthy controls (HC),that were ruled out other chronic disease.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)and Abbott i2000 microparticle chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer were used to determine the plasma DKK1 and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)levels.At the same time,analysesed and compared the receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve and correlation of the DKK1 and AFP results.Results The plasma level of DKK1 in patients with HCC was significantly higher than that in patients with chronic hepatitis B,cirrhosis and healthy controls (Z=-4.132~-5.828,P<0.001).The area under ROC curve (AUC)of plasma DKK1 in the diagnosis of HCC was 0.889 and 95% confidence in-terval was 0.831~0.947,when the Cut-off value of DKK1 was 565 ng/L,the sensitivity was 93.8% and specificity was 70% in diagnosing HCC.The areaunder ROC curve of AFP in the diagnosis of HCC was 0.759 and 95% confidence interval was 0.667~0.850.The AUC of DKK1 was significantly higher than that of AFP (Z=2.28,P=0.022).DKK1 and AFP in diagnosing HCC were no significantly correlated (r=0.148,P=0.316).21 patients with AFP under 20μg/L showed higer DKK1 above 565 ng/L in 48 patients with HCC.Conclusion Detection of DKK1 in plasma can be used as a complement of AFP in the diagnosis of HCC,Especially DKK1 early diagnostic value of AFP negative HCC patients is remarkable.