Kozuka R, et al. - Researchers investigated the risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), particularly host factors, during entecavir (ETV) treatment by the analyzing data of 127 Japanese patients undergoing ETV treatment. According to the log-rank test, liver fibrosis, age, platelet count, α-fetoprotein, type IV collagen, fibrosis-4 index, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQA1/DRB1-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) were significantly related to HCC development. During ETV treatment, patients with AA genotype in the HLA-DQA1/DRB1 gene or cirrhosis should be carefully followed up as a population possibly at higher risk of HCC.