ALB and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, plasma HRG among HCC patients showed a large interindividual variability which negatively correlated (r = 0.42; p = 0.001) with ALBI (albumin–bilirubin) score for HCC, a specific prognostic index used for HCC patients (47), suggesting that HRG reduction during the progression from cirrhosis to HCC likely reflects the worsening of the hepatic functions.