Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of anti-oncogene p53 on the expression of secreted frizzled-related protein (sFRP), a Wnt pathway inhibitor. Methods Human hepatocarcinoma Hep3B cells were transfected with a replication-defective adenovirus encoding p53 (Adp53), and Adp53 transgene expression was measured by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and sFRP mRNA expression detected by reverse transcriptional (RT)-PCR. Results sFRP mRNA expression in Hep3B cells was potentiated 20 h after the transfection with Adp53, reaching the peak level at 32 h. Dose-effect studies revealed that Adp53 at the doses of 0.5, 5 and 50 pfu/cell could promote the expression of sFRP mRNA, with the highest expression occurred with the dose of 5 pfu/cell. Conclusion Ectogenetic p53 promotes mRNA expression of Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor sFRP in Hep3B cells.