Abstract: Objective To explore the relationship between mannose-binding protein (MBP) codon 54 polymorphism and patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and fl uorescent quantitative PCR (FQ-PCR) were conducted on the MBP codon 54 polymorphism in 73 patients with compensated cirrhosis (CC), 78 with decompensated cirrhosis (DC), 35 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 88 normal controls. Results The genotype frequency of GGC/GAC heterozygotes and GAC allele frequency were signifi cantly higher in group CC and DC as compared with that of control group and HCC group (P ＜ 0.05), while no difference was found between HCC group and normal subjects (P ＞ 0.05). GAC allele frequency was also highest prevalence (36.5%) in DC group than that in CC group and HCC group (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusions The MBP codon 54 polymorphism is associated with the progression of liver cirrhosis and might not play an important role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.