The expression of bcl-2 and p16 in 25 cases of gallbladder mucosa hyperplasia, 40 cases of gallbladder carcinoma and 25 adjacent normal gallbladder mucosa tissue was detected with immunohistochemical staining. Normal gallbladder mucosa was uniformly negative. Bcl-2 and p16 positive rate were significantly higher in hyperplasia and carcinoma than in normal tissue (Ｐ＜0.01). Expression of bcl-2 and p16 got higher with the increasing degree of hyperplasia, p16 was associated with lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion of carcinoma of the gallbladder. The results suggest that bcl-2 and p16 expression play an important role in tumorigenesis, p16 can be used as a prognostic index for gallbladder carcinoma.