Several independent risk factors, such as age over 78 years, body mass index (BMI) <  18.5, LMVV, malnutrition, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels > 20 ng/mL, and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) levels > 150 mAU/mL, Ammonia >  73 μg/dL, and TNM stages 3/4 were identified for a shorter survival time in patients with primary HCC (Table 2, Fig 2g–l). The gene discussed is AFP; the disease is malnutrition.