ADIPOQ and hepatocellular carcinoma: Considering the serum adiponectin level, the current study showed a highly statistically significant difference(p=0.000) between patients with CLD and patients with HCC, which was lower in HCC patients than CLD patients, these results is in agreement with Saxena et al., (2010), they concluded that adiponectin has a protective effect against hepatic carcinogenesis.