HLTF and gastric cancer: HLTF promoter methylation is found more frequently in patients with family histories of gastric cancer in primary gastric cancer; 70–90% of early-stage cases in which the patient had a family history exhibited aberrant methylation of HLTF. HLTF methylation may play an important role in the early stage of gastric cancer in patients with family histories, and could be a susceptibility marker of gastric cancer risk in individuals with a family history [8].