MICA and chronic hepatitis C virus infection: In our previous genome-wide association study, we demonstrated the association between MHC class I-related chain A (MICA) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Increasing membrane-bound MICA (mMICA) in cancer cells by reducing MICA sheddases facilitates natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity.