In addition, we have found that the level of serum Egfl7 was also elevated in patients with metastatic liver cancer (increased by 2.50 folds) or benign liver tumors (increased by 1.62 folds) also had a moderately elevated compared with the healthy individuals, although the magnitude is smaller than that in early HCC (3.71 folds), suggesting serum Egfl7 might be helpful to determine the nature (benign tumor or HCC) and origin (primary or secondary) of liver tumors. The gene discussed is EGFL7; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.