The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in tumorigenesis1. The TME is usually studied in tumor tissue and in relation to tumor progression2,3, which can limit understanding of how the TME is involved in processes associated with initial tumorigenesis as well as tumor recurrence and metastasis after surgery. To describe the underlying mechanisms of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence and progression, we propose a new concept, the peritumor microenvironment (PME). We collected normal (all biochemical indicators of liver function, imaging examination and histopathology examination were normal) and peritumor (The liver tissues adjacent to the tumor were approximately 2 cm away from the tumor and were taken from patients with HCC who did not receive tumor radiotherapy, tumor chemotherapy or targeted drug therapy before surgery) to perform a proteomic characterization of the PME in peritumor liver tissues.