While the HALT-C trial showed that long-term treatment of low dose IFN had no significant impact on disease progression and HCC development in Americans with chronic hepatitis21, in contrast, a Japanese study on 494 patients by Takeyasu et al. showed that long-term IFN monotherapy significantly reduced the risk of HCC, even in cirrhotic patients13. The gene discussed is IFNA1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.