Re-examination of EBV-miR-BART1 expression in liver-metastasized tumours by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT–PCR) demonstrated that the metastasized tumour cells stably expressed BART1-5p and BART1-3p at the levels close to that of NPC clinical samples (Supplementary Fig. 4). This evidence concerns the gene ARL2BP and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.