Abstract: Objective To investigate the role of cinobufacini (CBC) in anti-tumor mechanism at the molecular level of dendritic cells (DCs). Methods Female Wistar rat model with hepatic cancer was induced by 0.01% diethylnitrosamine (DEN).Twenty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 2 groups (CBC intervention group,negative control group) after 12 weeks of DEN treatment,and received CBC intraperitoneal injection （2 times/week × 20 weeks）in intervention group or equal dosage of 0.9% saline in control group,respectively.Livers were checked at the time of 20th week by 3.0 T MRI.Using recombinant cytokine to induce and culture bone marrow derived DCs and observe the morphology characteristics under the inverted microscope.Flow cytometry was used to detect the phenotypes of DCs.ELISA was applied to test the levels of serum IL-2,IL-10. Results MRI showed that the number of tumor nodules in intervention group (84.3±9.3) was significantly less than that of in control group (121.7±15.6)(P<0.05).Compared with negative control,the morphology of DCs in CBC intervention group was more typically under the inverted microscope.Moreover,the positive expressions of phenotypes ［RT 1B (MHC-Ⅱ),CD80,CD86］ were increased in CBC intervention group.There were significantly differences in phenotypes between 2 groups(P<0.05).ELISA data showed that the levels of serum IL-2,IL-10 were significantly differences in CBC intervention group,compared with negative group(P＜0.05). Conclusion CBC can up-regulate the expressions of DCs phenotypes,promote the mature of DCs,and enhance the secretion of Th1 cytokines to suppress the growth of liver cancer.