In our study, presence of anti-HBc (a marker of past primary infection) without subsequent development of immunity (anti-HBs negative) was associated with a non-statistically significant two times increased risk of HCC, and this serologic marker has been shown to predict HCC risk in low-risk populations for both HBV infection and HCC, although the associated risk estimate is of an order of magnitude lower than that in HbsAg-positive chronic carriers (Yu et al, 1997). Here, KRT88P is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.