With an increasing prevalence all over the world,diabetes mellitus is considered as a potential cause of liver cancer in patients with non-viral hepatitis.Whether diabetes mellitus is the cause of liver cancer and related pathogenesis remain unknown.The article reviews recent large-sample cohort studies and confirms that diabetes mellitus increases the incidence rate of liver cancer and affects its prognosis.This article also investigates the association of hepatitis C,obesity,and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with diabetes mellitus and liver cancer and finds that insulin resistance and activation of chronic inflammatory factors may be involved in the generation and proliferation of cancer cells.This article elaborates on the influence of anti-insulin resistance drugs on the development and progression of liver cancer and points out that diabetes mellitus may be the cause of liver cancer.Effective control of insulin resistance can help to reduce the development and progression of diabetes-associated liver cancer.