APOA1 and liver cancer: Additionally, using a proteomic profiling approach, it was shown that decreased concentrations of three apoA-I specific peptides were related to the incidence of the liver cancer, thus potentially representing novel biomarkers for the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma [38,43] Furthermore, apoA-I levels were inversely associated with the development of tumor metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma patients [44].