Abstract: Objective To screen for differentially expressed microRNAs associated with early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. Methods Tissue samples were taken from 10 HCC patients who had undergone curative resection， comprising 5 patients who experienced early recurrence and 5 who did not. In addition， normal tissue from 4 individuals without HCC served as control samples. All samples were analyzed using microarrays to identify microRNAs specifically expressed in early-recurrence HCC. Results Several microRNAs were significantly upregulated in early-recurrence HCC relative to normal tissue：miR-21-3p，miR-21-5p，miR-222-3p，miR-3182，miR-3651，miR-3654，miR-4451，miR-4633-5p，and miR-720. Conversely，miR-4525 was significantly downregulated in early-recurrence HCC relative to normal tissue. Relative to normal tissue，several microRNAs were significantly upregulated in non-early-recurrence HCC（miR-106b-5p，miR-3651，miR-4451，miR-93-5p） or downregulated（miR-3692-5p，miR-451a）. Conclusion MicroRNAs may play a key role in early recurrence of HCC after curative resection.

Key words: Liver neoplasm, MicroRNAs, Genechip, Recurrence