EMT marker gene upregulation is commonly associated with increases in TGFβ or β-catenin pathway activity in HCC.40 Correlation analysis of tumor samples in TCGA LIHC database showed that the XDH transcript levels were inversely correlated with the expression levels of molecules found in the TGFβ-Smads but not the β-catenin signaling pathway (Supplementary Table 4). This evidence concerns the gene XDH and neoplasm.