Objective: To investigate IGF-IRs role as a signaling molecule,its pathological alteration in hepatoma tissues, and its effect on hepatoma cell proliferation when inhibited.Methods: As measured by immunohistochemical analysis,the incidence of hepatic IGF-IR expression in cancerous tissue was 80.0％ (24 of 30), which was significantly higher (P＜0.05)than 43.3％ (13 of 30) occurrence in the surrounding tissue and the non-detectable (0 of 30) frequency in the distal cancerous tissue.