CD81 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Given the importance of NF-κB for HCV replication and persistence, as well as its role in tumor development and hepatocellular carcinoma (You et al., 1999; Yoshida et al., 2001; Nguyen et al., 2006; Sato et al., 2006; Selimovic et al., 2012; Simonin et al., 2013), it is tempting to speculate that HCV-mediated downregulation of CD81 is involved in viral tumorigenesis (Tai et al., 2000; Bartosch et al., 2009; Jeong et al., 2021; El-Kafrawy et al., 2022; Kurden-Pekmezci et al., 2023).