Objective: To identify potential tumor markers for the development and recurrence of hepatocelullar carcinoma (HCC), this research studied the relationship between the expression of the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 4 (TRAF4) and tumor angiogenesis together with its survival time of HCC patients. Methods: The expressions of TRAF4, vascular endothelial growth factor and CD34 were performed upon 90 patients with curative liver resection between August 2006 and November 2009 by immunohistochemical method in locally advanced HCC and adjacent non-tumoral liver. The expression of TRAF4 was determined by the Spearman rank correlation. Their prognostic factors on disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were guaranteed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. The detection of the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and CD34 was fulfilled in 90 cases of HCC. Results: TRAF4 expression was both significantly higher in HCC than in surrounding non-tumor tissues (57.8% vs. 22.2 %; P
