The purpose of this study is to identify genetic determinants of susceptibility to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It will assist in predicting individual risks of disease progression and would help to clarify pathophysiologic mechanisms of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) usually occurs in cirrhotic liver. Only 10-30% of HCC occur in non-cirrhotic liver. It has been suggested that etiological factors may differ for HCC which develop in cirrhotic liver: HCC in non-cirrhotic liver might be less often associated with viral infection and chronic alcoholism than HCC in cirrhotic livers. However, in any individual, the factors that determine HCC with or without cirrhosis remain unknown.

Cirrhosis is the end of fibrosis progression. The progress of liver fibrosis is a complex progress involving many cytokines related to activation of the hepatic stellate cells and progressive accumulation of extracellular matrix. The key enzymes responsible for deposition and degradation of all the protein component of extracellular matrix and basement membrane are matrix metalloproteinases.

To assess whether genetic variations in cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases result in diversity of liver cirrhosis and HCC, we conduct a case-control study of single nucleotide polymorphism analysis.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Clinical diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma
• restrict the casual agent of liver disease to viral infection

Exclusion criteria:

• the casual aget of liver disease is not viral infection, such as alcohol abuse

A total of 596 patients with histologically proven HCC were collected by Dr. Po-Huang Lee's Lab. (The Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan)