Objective To establish hepatic carcinoma mouse model with human BEL-7402 cells expressing luciferase and to compare bioluminescence imaging with that by small-animal PET-CT. Method The vector containing luciferase gene was constructed and transfected into human BEL-7402 liver tumor cell line and selected with G418 to obtain stable Luc-expressing clones. 5 × 105 cells，constitutively expressing luciferase，were inoculated to liver of BALB / cA-nu through hepatic portal vein for assessment of tumor growth with the whole-body optical imaging system and small-animal PET-CT. Result The stable Luc-expressing BEL-7402 cell lines were abtained，which could grow to tumor mass after implantation. There was high uptake of 18 F-FDG at the edge of liver with small-animal PET-CT. Conclusion Luc-labeled BEL-7402 cell lines and a mouse tumor model based on the cell lines are established，the whole-body optical imaging system combined with small-animal PET-CT provides a new and reliable technology for the in situ tumor model，which is a new tool to further study the mechanism of metastasis and drug discovery.