Lei B, et al. - Using high-throughput sequencing, researchers undertook the first study investigating aberrantly expressed circular RNAs (circRNAs) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients vs healthy controls. The PBMCs of HCC patients displayed significantly changed 58 circRNAs (≥2 or ≤0.5-fold) when compared with those of the healthy cases. Real-time RT-PCR further validated 6 random representative circRNAs (three up- and three down-regulated) in 72 samples of PBMCs from HCC patients and 30 control subjects. As per Chi-square test, a correlation was evident between one of the up-regulated circRNA candidates, circ_0000798, and clinical variables. They observed poor overall survival of HCC patients in correlation with highly expressed circ_0000798. Findings suggest the potential value of dysregulated circ_0000798 in PBMCs as a convenient biomarker for diagnosing or prognosticating HCC.