NT5E and hepatocellular carcinoma: It has also been described as a new functional surface marker for Tregs, which are regarded as a poor predictor for the outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).[6,16] This protein can catalyze the sequential hydrolysis of extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP), known to boost immune responses and may also contribute directly to cancer cell death in the tumor microenvironment, to adenosine monophosphate (AMP), which is then further degraded to anti-inflammatory adenosine by CD73/ecto-5′-nucleotidase.