In HCC, cancerous cells tend to show iron deficiency, high TfR1 levels and low hepcidin expression whereas the adjacent non-cancerous cells show high iron loading, high hepcidin and high ferroportin expression [28], although a study reported that ferroportin mRNA expression did not differ between HCC cancerous and non-cancerous tissues [17]. Here, TFRC is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.