Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship of cortactin gene (CTTN) level with invasion and metastasis in primary hepatic carcinoma. Methods Total RNA was extracted from human liver cancer tissues and normal hepatic tissues adjacent to cavernous hemangiomas of liver.To build standard curves，CTTN and GAPDH gene were amplified by RT-PCR and pMD18-T(+)/CTTN and pMD18-T(+)/GAPDH recombinant plasmid were established and confirmed as expected.The expression of CTTN was detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and the relative values were analyzed with specimens grouped according to their invasive power. Results The mRNA level of CTTN was significantly higher in high invasive liver cancer tissues than that in low invasive liver cancer tissues and noncancerous tissues ［(16.791+10.693) vs.(7.279+4.414)，(6.436+4.618)］(P<0.01).There was no statistical significance between low invasive liver cancer tissues and noncancerous tissues(P>0.05). Conclusion The increase of CTTN expression contribute to invasion and metastasis in primary hepatic carcinoma and CTTN overexpression may activate tumor cells to become more invasive.