In terms of untreated cells, upregulation of PD-L1 in HCC cells was driven by enhanced expression of TGF-β1 (32) upon exposure to sorafenib, In the present study, 43 (35.2%) out of 122 HCC cases were defined as PD-L1 overexpressed according to x-tile, higher than 25% based on the 75th percentile in the previous study (17) where sorafenib was not applied. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.