OAS1 and cancer: With the exception of two missense variants, all of the somatic mutations on the Neanderthal haplotype were in noncoding regions, suggesting somatic mutations are not affecting regulation of OAS1. Taken together, though Neanderthal introgression in OAS1 may provide a benefit to the human immune system [25], given its role in other cancers, it is possible that introgression in this gene may be contributing to liver cancer susceptibility.