PCT is a biochemical marker that holds great promise for the management of infectious diseases, such as pneumonia, severe sepsis/septic shock, and bloodstream infection.[14]Many previous studies have shown that PCT was superior to C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and leukocyte counts in early diagnosis of bacterial infections in patients without liver disease,[15–17] but its role in hepatocellular carcinoma is still unclear. Here, CALCA is linked to pneumonia.