Two studies (with a total of 666 patients) identified an association between HSPA1B—which encodes a heat‐shock protein—and HCC in HCV‐infected patients.17, 18 One study of 366 patients18 used a comparison group of HCV‐infected patients, while the other17 with 300 patients used healthy controls and only 44 patients in total within this study were HCV‐positive. Here, HSPA1B is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.