Chronic hepatitis B virus infection is the most important risk factor for HCC . Deletion mutation in the HBV pre-S2 gene leads to expression of an essential viral oncoprotein . Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 was validated as an independent prognostic biomarker . Patients with both the presence of the gene deletion mutation and high levels of MCP1 displayed a higher risk of Hcc recurrence than patients with either one or none of these two biomarkers .