A study by Ohmori et al. discovered that there were CD34-positive but vWF-negative sinusoidal endothelial cells in the liver of patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease, and the high expression of these CD34-positive sinusoidal endothelial cells was a risk factor for HCC carcinogenesis in these patients (46). This evidence concerns the gene CD34 and hepatocellular carcinoma.