We found significantly increased risk of HCC attributable to presence of ADPN I148M polymorphism, with the highest risk associated with the M/M genotype under the recessive model of inheritance (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.87–2.67, between-study heterogeneity: P = 0.468). Here, PNPLA3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.