Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer subtype [1] and one of the major causes of mortality in developing countries [2]. Current curative therapies, including liver resection and liver transplantation, have a high rate of post-surgical recurrence [3]. HCC recurrence occurs because of both primary tumor metastatic dissemination prior to surgery and new neoplasm development in the remaining liver tissues after surgery. Because of the high rate of recurrence, the postsurgical prognosis of HCC patients is extremely poor. Therefore, better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying HCC recurrence and metastasis and identification of biomarkers that can predict postsurgical HCC outcome is urgently needed.
