Koshiol J, Argirion I, Liu Z, et al. - Researchers investigated the association between circulating immunologic markers and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk. They selected 175 chronically hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected people who developed HCC, 117 who developed cirrhosis only, and 165 non-cirrhotic controls from a Taiwanese cohort (REVEAL-HBV). This study also included 94 chronically hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected persons (REVEAL-HCV) who developed HCC, 68 who developed cirrhosis only and 100 non-cirrhotic controls from a similar Taiwanese cohort. In both REVEAL-HBV and REVEAL-HCV, rising concentrations of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) were related to elevated risk of HCC vs non-cirrhotic controls. In both REVEAL-HBV and REVEAL-HCV, a positive association of C-X-C motif chemokine 11 and hepatocyte growth factor, and a negative association of complement factor H related 5 and stem cell factor with the development of HCC was observed, compared with non-cirrhotic controls. Overall, findings corroborated not only the link for ICAM-1 but also unveiled 4 additional proteins linked with HBV- and HCV-associated HCC. These data emphasize the value of immunologic processes in HBV- and HCV-related HCC.