Using this approach, 7 genes were identified as undergoing tumor-specific aberrant promoter methylation in HCC, including IFITM1, SMAD6, TBX15, CHST4, and LRRC4 with hyper-methylated promoters and CCL20 and NQO1 with hypo-methylated promoters. This evidence concerns the gene SMAD6 and hepatocellular carcinoma.