Two mechanisms in the downregulation of E-cad expression in HCC have been demonstrated; one is by hypermethylation of the E-cad promoter and the other is by loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the E-cad gene (Kanai et al, 1997; Matsumura et al, 2001; Wei et al, 2002). Here, CDH1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.