Our study group also has found that the ESR1 polymorphisms influenced the susceptibility to persistent HBV infection [19], HBV-related liver cirrhosis [20] and hepatocellular carcinoma [21] and showed that the c.453-397 T > C polymorphism is a novel c.453-397 C allele-specific and c-myb-dependent enhancer-like cis-acting regulatory variation and could be part of the genetic variations underlying the susceptibility of individuals to HBV-related diseases [20]. Here, ESR1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.