17 found that the expression of TM4SF1 was significantly increased in HBV‐related HCC tissues over the adjacent non‐cancerous tissues. We found that TM4SF1 was up‐regulated in HBV‐related HCC tumor tissues. Moreover, the expression of TM4SF1 was positively associated with tumor grade and it can distinguish HCC with G3 from G1. However, we found that it was not remarkably associated with the overall survival time of HCC patients. Anyway, we suggest that TM4SF1 may be a molecule closely related to HCC malignancy, especially to the poorly differentiated HCC. The gene discussed is TM4SF1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.