EPAS1 and liver cancer: To uncover the mechanisms of HIF-2α leading to favourable outcome in HCC patients, we manipulated the level of HIF-2α in liver cancer cells by the over-expression (transfected with the HIF-2α expression plasmid pcDNA3.1-HIF2a) and the downregulation (HIF-2α shRNA) (Figure 2A and 2B).