Since telomere lengths are maintained by reactivation of telomerase in the majority of human malignancies 27, we also detected the mRNA level of telomerase by real‐time RT‐PCR in 64 HCC patients and found a positive correlation between TERT mRNA level and RTL (p < 0.0001, r = 0.806) (supplementary material, Figure S3D). Here, TERT is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.