Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression levels of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1), soluble mannose receptor (sMR), and miR-758-3p in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their relationship with clinicopathological characteristics. 
Methods A total of 68 HCC patients who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital were selected as research subjects, and another 42 patients with chronic hepatitis who presented to our hospital during the same period were selected as controls. Clinical data of patients were collected. HSF1 levels were detected by immunohistochemistry, and serum sMR levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RT-qPCR was used to detect miR-758-3p levels. The relationship between HSF1, sMR, miR-758-3p and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. 
Results Compared with the control group, the positive rate of HSF1 and the expression of serum sMR in the experimental group were higher, while the level of miR-758-3p was lower (P＜0.05). The expression levels of HSF1, sMR, and miR-758-3p were related to lymph node metastasis, microvascular invasion, pathological stage, and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (P＜0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of HSF1, sMR and miR-758-3p in the diagnosis of HCC was 0.947, 0.983 and 0.787, respectively, and the AUC of combined detection of HSF1, sMR and miR-758-3p in the diagnosis of HCC was 1.000, which was higher than that of single indicator. 
Conclusion The positive expression of HSF1 and the serum sMR increase significantly, while the level of miR-758-3p decreases significantly in patients with HCC.HSF1, sMR and miR-758-3p are closely related to clinicopathological characteristics, including lymph node metastasis, microvascular invasion, pathological stage and AFP. 

Key words: liver neoplasms, heat shock transcription factors, soluble mannose receptor