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H epatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world, especially in Asia and Africa. Infection by hepatitis B and C viruses, exposure to aflatoxin B 1 , and cirrhosis of any etiology are considered the major risk factors for the development of HCC. 1 The ability to diagnose and treat HCC is limited. To date, surgery is offered as the main treatment, but improved approaches to long-term survival are urgently needed. The poor prognosis of HCC is largely a result of high recurrence after surgery and of resistance to chemotherapy. Therefore, it is necessary to find new clues to understand hepatocarcinogenesis and to explore new targets for the diagnosis of HCC and the development of effective therapeutic strategies.TIP30, also called CC3 or HTIP2, is a putative tumor suppressor. It was initially identified by a differential display analysis of mRNA from the highly metastatic human variant small cell lung carcinoma (v-SCLC) versus less metastatic classic small cell lung carcinoma (c-SCLC) cell lines. 2 Its expression has been detected in many human normal tissues; however, in some tumor types such as melanoma, breast cancer, neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, colon cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma, its expression was found to be decreased. [2][3][4][5][6] Studies of Tip30-deficient mice revealed a high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and other tumors with a relatively long latency. 6 Expression of TIP30 was reduced in about 33% of surgical specimens from HCC patients. Some of these carci-