2. Methods Blood samples from patients with HCC and from age-matched healthy controls, stored in the National bio-repository Scotland, will be tested for circulating miR-221 and miR-222 expression by the means of Real Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR). Similarly, levels of miR-221 and miR-222 will be assessed in paired cancer and healthy liver tissue form patients with HCC.