To unravel the relationship between COL1A1 expression and/or activity and HCC, we first studied the gene expression profiles in publicly-available whole-genome expression microarray from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, accession number GSE14323 comparing gene expression in normal, pre-malignant (cirrhosis) and tumor (HCC) liver tissues. Here, COL1A1 is linked to Cirrhosis.