With an estimated annual incidence of between 250,000 and 1 million cases worldwide, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies in humans and occurs mainly in areas of Asia and Africa (1 ,2 ). Early diagnosis is critical for patients with HCC, because the 5-yr survival rate is significantly improved for patients with small, subclinical HCC after surgical resection (3 ). Therefore, identification of gene products exclusively or abundantly expressed in HCC tissue may yield novel tumor markers that are sensitive and specific to HCC. Moreover, it could lead to the early detection and further efficient targeting of tumor, and eventually to cure the disease.
