Rohr-Udilova et al. (2018) reported a greater density of mast cells in the adjacent tissue of HCC; however, only the density of intra-tumoral mast cells was found to be associated with a reduced risk of recurrence. The study shows that mast cells are largely inactive in HCC (Giuşcă et al., 2015). Since activation of mast cells by IgE is thought to prevent the development of cancer, deactivation of mast cells could lead to immune escape, thereby promoting tumor growth (Rohr-Udilova et al., 2018). Here, IGHE is linked to cancer.