ALB and animal viral hepatitis: In our previous study, conducted in the Italian Platform for the Study of Viral Hepatitis Therapies (PITER) cohort, we identified older age, genotype HCV-3, the presence of diabetes, and pre-treatment low platelet count and albumin level as factors independently associated with HCC occurrence after SVR, with the best predictability given by the association of platelet count and albumin level, analyzed prospectively at long-term follow-up (FU) after SVR [14].