MALAT1 is widely expressed in normal human tissues and is found to be up-regulated in a variety of human cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, liver and uterus.75,76 The MALAT1 locus is located at 11q13.1 and was found to harbour chromosomal translocation break points associated with cancer.88 It has been shown that increased expression of MALAT1 can be used as a prognostic marker for HCC patients following liver transplantation.89 This evidence concerns the gene MALAT1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.