A remarkable finding of the present study is that iRGD elevated the tumour-blood transport of AFP in mice with small and medium-sized HCCs and normal/low basal blood AFP concentrations, suggesting that the iRGD-induced transport is already present in small HCCs and might thus be particularly useful to detect early-stage HCC that are difficult to diagnose in patients. This evidence concerns the gene AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma.