We also reported the clinical efficacy of IFN-α/5-fluorouracil (5-FU) combination therapy for advanced HCC (Miyamoto et al, 2000; Sakon et al, 2002; Ota et al, 2005; Nagano et al, 2007a, 2007b) and the mechanism of its anti-tumour effects (Eguchi et al, 2000; Yamamoto et al, 2004; Kondo et al, 2005; Nakamura et al, 2007; Wada et al, 2007). The gene discussed is IFNA1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.