By understanding that the activation of Notch signaling increased HCC cell growth, its inactivation decreased growth, and with the involvement of genes such as NR4A2, p21 and p63, we thus hypothesized that NR4A2 functioned as an oncogene via directly involving Notch-mediated HCC carcinogenesis and the downstream signaling networks. Here, NR4A2 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.