Objective To study the value of serum Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), Golgi protein 73 (GP73), and thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) in evaluating the efficacy and prognosis of patients with primary liver cancer after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).Methods From March 2016 to December 2018, 60 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma who received TACE treatment in our hospital were selected as HCC group. And 80 volunteers who received physical examination in our hospital during the same time were selected as the control group. The contents of serum DKK1, GP73, and TK1 were measured, and the efficacy of TACE and its recurrence were evaluated. ROC curve was used to analyze the value of DKK1, GP73, and TK1 in prognosis.Results Comparison was used the analysis of variance of repeated measurement data, the serum DKK1, GP73 and TK1 levels of patients in the liver cancer group before operation, 7 days after, and 28 days after operation were higher than those in the control group, and the differences among groups, time differences and interaction were statistically significant (P < 0.05); The comparison of serum DKK1, GP73 and TK1 levels between effective and ineffective patients, relapsed and non relapsed patients before operation, 7 days after operation and 28 days after operation in the liver cancer group was analyzed by repeated measurement of variance, the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). Compared with the group before operation, the serum levels of DKK1, GP73, and TK1 in the effective patients and the non recurrent patients were decreased at 28 days after operation, while the serum levels of DKK1, GP73, and TK1 in the ineffective patients and the recurrent patients were increased at 28 days after operation, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The ROC curve showed that the AUC of serum DKK1, GP73, and TK1 was 0.809, 0.838, and 0.880 respectively, and the sensitivity was 71.4% (95% CI: 0.657, 0.745), 78.6% (95% CI: 0.752, 0.822), and 82.1%（95% CI: 0.781, 0.866), respectively; the specificity was 87.5% (95% CI: 0.793, 0.889), 87.5% (95% CI: 0.805, 0.897) and 89.6% (95% CI: 0.847, 0.940).Conclusion The increase of serum DKK1, GP73, and TK1 28 days after TACE has great value in evaluating the ineffectiveness of treatment and the recurrence of lesions.