In another study, 35 chronic hepatitis C, 22 HCV-induced cirrhosis, and 10 HCV-related HCC patients were recruited in another study.27 In HCV-associated HCC patients, compared with chronic hepatitis C patients, the serum and exosomal expression levels of lncRNA-HEIH were elevated, but the ratio of lncRNA-HEIH expression was lower in serum than in exosomes, suggesting that lncRNA-HEIH may serve as a non-invasive serum biomarker for screening and diagnosing HCV-related HCC. Here, HEIH is linked to chronic hepatitis C virus infection.