Moreover, we found rare germline variants in PMS1 [30], and other DNA damage response (DDR) genes ERCC2 and XRCC1 (associated with an increased risk of liver cirrhosis and its potential transformation into HCC in HBV-positive patients) [26,27], but we failed to identify PVs in other CPGs (including BAP1, DICER1, HNF1A, MET, TERT and VHL) associated with HCC in other studies [31,32,33,34,35,36]. Here, TERT is linked to cirrhosis of liver.