Another possibility to explain the rationality of A987G is that this mutation may be in linkage disequilibrium with other well-defined HCC-related mutations such as pre-S deletion, the BCP/EnhII region mutations C1653T, T1753A/G, C1762T, and T1764A, and the precore mutations G1896A, G1899A. The gene discussed is OPN1SW; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.