Abstract: Objective :To detect the mRNA expression of three CTAs (NY-SAR-35,NY-TLU-57 and NY-ESO-1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to investigate the possibility of applying theantigens as the target antigens for HCC specific immunotherapy. Methods : With reverse-transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the expression of NY-SAR-35, NY-TLU-57 and NY-ESO-1 in63 cases of HCC tissues, 56 cases of HCC paraneoplastic tissues and 4 cases of normal liver tissueswas detected respectively. Four samples selected randomly from PCR positive products of each CT genewere directly sequenced. The results of expression and related clinicopathologic parameters were ana-lyzed with SPSS 11.5 statistic analysis software. Results : None of the three genes can be detected inthe normal liver tissues. Among 63 HCC tissues, NY-SAR-35, NY-ESO-1 and NY-TLU-57 mRNAwere detected in 38.1%(24/63), 23.8%(15/63)and 4.8%(3/63), respectively. In the test of the 56 caseswith HCC paraneoplastic tissues, neither NY- TLU- 57 nor NY-ESO-1 mRNA can be detected, but 15cases (15/56, 26.8%) can express NY- SAR- 35 mRNA. No relationship was found between the expres-sion of three CTAs genes and clinicopathological parameters (P>0.05). Conclusion :NY-SAR-35,NY-TLU-57 and NY-ESO-1 are expressed specifically in HCC. Moreover and NY-SAR-35 and NY-ESO-1 are expressed with relatively high frequency, so they are the potential targets for antigen-specific im-munotherapyofHCC.