VEGFA and hepatocellular carcinoma: High levels of VEGFA expression were reported in different types of malignant tumors including HCC and are associated with advanced stages of disease, poor survival of patients and high recurrence rate (Ferrara, Gerber & LeCouter, 2003; Tseng et al., 2008; Shen, Hsu & Cheng, 2010; Chekhonin et al., 2013).