Given that the loss of Merlin occurs in highly malignant and metastatic tumours such as mesothelioma, colorectal cancer, melanoma and neurofibroma24, 25, 28, 29, 30, as well as HCC according to our data, we performed exome sequencing for Nf2 gene and found no mutation present in human HCC, PVTT and non-tumour adjacent tissues (Supplementary Table 1). The gene discussed is NF2; the disease is metastatic neoplasm.