MICA and hepatocellular carcinoma: Studies have shown that higher levels of sMICA can promote NK cell depletion and tumor immune escape, which may be related to the fact that up-regulated MICA can support persistent HBV infection, leading to increased susceptibility to HCC (Groh et al., 2002; El-Gazzar et al., 2013; Tong et al., 2013; Zhong et al., 2020).