Interestingly, in contradiction to a previous report which showed that TRIM22 inhibited HBV gene transcription in human hepatoma cells [11], our study did not reveal any significant effect of TRIM22 on HBV protein expression and DNA replication (Fig. 1), which is, in fact, consistent with a recent report by Mao and colleagues [30]. Here, TRIM22 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.