Results presented herein indicate that, compared to normal liver samples, SAE1 is overexpressed in HCC, associated with the enhanced metastatic phenotype, disease progression, and poor prognosis of patients with HCC, thus indicating that SAE1 possesses reliable and clinically-relevant diagnostic value and is a potential novel biomarker of prognosis for HCC. The gene discussed is SAE1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.