TP53 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Therefore, we conducted an hospital-based study aimed at comparing the presence of 8-oxodG and other base lesions at codon 176 of the exon 5 of the p53 gene and the levels of M1dG in the genomic DNA in the hepatocytes of HCV-HCC patients in respect to controls in Italy, a country with a high HCC incidence [3].