Indeed, granulin has a central role in carcinogenesis of a range of malignancies [22]; pertinent to our findings, granulin is over-expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [26] and renders HCC cells resistant to Natural Killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity by modulating expression of MHC-associated genes [27]. Here, GRN is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.