Four autophagy-related markers were included in the current study, including microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3A (LC3A), microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3B), beclin-1 (BECN1) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1), as they have been previously reported to be potential markers for estimating HCC tumour progression and metastasis [7,9,10,11,12]. The gene discussed is BECN1; the disease is neoplasm.