Our findings indicated that up-regulation of POU2F1 positively correlated with tumor size (≥ 5 or < 5 cm) (P = 0.007), histological grade (P = 0.019), HCC metastasis (P = 0.044) and the clinical stage (P = 0.0004) (Table 1). The gene discussed is POU2F1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.