SALL4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: We surmised that the relatively favourable background liver function of patients with SALL4-positive HCCs, as evidenced by significantly lower ICG15 levels, modulated the results, since the state of the background liver is a significant prognostic factor in HCC patients, especially with regards to long-term survival (Hoshida et al. 2008; Wu et al. 2009).