Abstract:To investigate the expression of serum high mobility group protein 1 (HMGB1) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver failure and its clinical significance. Methods Ninety patients of HBVrelated liver failure were divided into early group (group A), middle group (group B) and late group (group C) with 30 cases in each group. In addition, 30 cases of healthy persons (group D) and 30 cases of chronic hepatitis B patients(group E) were used as control groups. Serum levels of biochemical indexes related to liver function and HMGB1 were detected in each group. The test and variance analysis of independent samples were used to compare the data between the groups, and the correlations between the groups were predicted by multiple linear regression analysis. Results The patients of the groups A, B, C and E were HMGB1 positive, their serum levels of HMGB1 were (7.54 ±2.5), (12.05 ±3.7), (18.69 ±5.4) and (5.26±4.0) μg/L, respectively. The patients of the group D were HMGB1 negative. The patients with HBV-related liver failure had significantly higher serum level of HMGB1 than the patients in the group E ( t= 2.863,p < 0.05). The patients in the group C had significantly higher serum level ofHMGB 1 than those in the group A ( t= 2.178, p< 0.05). The serum HMGB1 level was positively correlated with the AST level in the patients with HBV-related liver failure (t = 0.695,p < 0.05). Conclusions The serum HMGB 1 level in the patients with HBV-related liver failure increases with the progression of the disease, which could partially predict the prognosis of the patients.