Abstract: Objective To explore the possible function and significance of miR-143 expression by detecting the miR-143 expression in carcinoma and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissue from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods Total of 45 samples of HCC and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues were collected from our hospital, and the real-time quantitative reverse transcription (qRT-PCR) was used to test the miR-143 expression. The correlation between the miR-143 expression and the clinical pathological parameters of HCC was analyzed. Results There was no miR-143 expression in the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues, and the positive expressing rate of miR-143 in HCC tissues was 88.89% (40/45). It’s been showed positive correlation between the miR-143 expression and the tumor number, tumor capsule, portal vein tumor thrombus, tumor differentiation grade, distant metastasis and tumor stage (all P ＜ 0.05), but no correlation between the miR-143 expression and the age, sexuality, tumor diameter, HBV infection (all P ＞ 0.05). MiR-143 expression of positive and negative of HCC patients with 3 year survival rates were 89.12%, 32.56%, the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.005). Conclusions miR-143 may contribute to the invasion and metastasis of HCC and was an biological marker for predicting the prognosis of HCC.