Analysis of the relationship between mutations in TP53 and TERT genes and cancer stage in 34 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma revealed that TP53 mutations were significantly up-regulated in the advanced stage of hepatocellular carcinoma (P=0.019), while TERT gene mutations were not significantly altered in the early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma (P=0.6) (Figure 3A). Here, TERT is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.