At baseline, the percentages of activated cells were higher in LT-HCC than in LT-no-HCC patients (Figure 1A); in particular, the percentages of activated CD8+ T cells and memory B cells were significantly higher in LT-HCC compared to LT-no-HCC patients (%CD8+CD38+HLA-DR+: 10.89 (5.61-18.52) vs 6.59 (4.26-9.25), p=0.003; %CD19+CD10-CD21-CD27+: 10.97 (5.59-20.68) vs 7.60 (3.00-13.72), p=0.040) (Figure 1A), and a trend to significance was also observed for activated CD4+ T cells (%CD4+CD38+HLA-DR+: 7.23 (4.11-14.12) vs 6.21 (3.49-9.23), p=0.092) (Figure 1A). The gene discussed is CD38; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.