To study the potential role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the development of chronic virus hepatitis B (CH) and hepatitis cirrhosis (HC). The serum concentrations of MIF, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in 18 patients with chronic virus hepatitis B and in 14 patients with hepatitis cirrhosis without ascitic fluid, and the serum and ascites cytokine concentrations in 22 HC patients with ascitic fluid were detected by enzyme linked immunity sorbed assay. The cytokine concentrations of the patients were significantly higher than those of the controls. The serum levels of MIF, TNF-alpha and IL-6 of the 22 patients with ascitic fluid were higher than those of 14 HC patients without ascites. In the 18 patients with CH, the serum cytokine concentrations were the lowest. The serum cytokine concentrations of the 22 HC patients with ascites were significantly higher than those of the 14 HC patients without ascites (P< 0.01). Their serum cytokine concentrations were significantly higher than those in the 18 patients with CH (P< 0.01). The concentration of IL-6 in ascites was the highest among all the groups. The serum levels of MIF, TNF-alpha and IL-6 are correlated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the patients with CH, but not in those with HC with or without ascites. These results indicated that MIF, TNF-alpha and IL-6 may participate in the pathological process of CH and cirrhosis, that IL-6 seems to play an important role in ascites formation, and that se-rum levels of MIF, TNF-alpha and IL-6 appear to reflect the severity of tissue injury in HBV disease.