Background and purpose:The reason for hepatitis B virus (HBV) with hepatocyte specificity is PreS1 enchased on the hepatitis B virus envelope (HBVE). So HBVE may have a potential application in liver targeting gene transfer. In this study, we investigated whether HBVE has the ability to target liver cancer cells. Methods:HBVE was obtained from the supernatant of Hep G 2.2.15 cells through PEG8000 system and ?-propiolactone method. The pIRS2-EGFP was packed with HBVE and resulted in the product HBVE-GFP. HBVE-GFP was transfected into HepG2, A549, HeLa and FB cells. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression was observed under a fluorescent microscope. The rate of GFP positive cells was determined by flow cytometer.Results:The GFP could be observed in the four groups, but the HepG2 group had a higher fluorescent intensity than the other 3 groups. The transfected rate of HepG2 group was (71.35?0.03)% , much higher than other groups(P