The relationship between p53 gene mutation and carcinogenesis and evolution of malignant tumor is a hot spot of current research in molecular pathology of tumors. The detection of p53 gene mutation usually needs complicated DNA blotting and sequencing technology. We used newly-developed PCR-RFLP technique to detect the point mutation of the 7th exon of p53 gene in fresh and paraffin embedded tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma in studying 40 cases. It was shown that the p53 gene mutation rate in hepatocellular carcinoma was 30%, and this mutation was correlated with the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.