ST8SIA6 and hepatocellular carcinoma: ST8SIA6-AS1 has emerged as a biomarker for prognostic evaluation in HCC (Luo et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020; Zhang B. et al., 2021; Zhang Y. et al., 2021), including in cases related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (Xue et al., 2023).