When cirrhotic HCC and non-cirrhotic HCC patients were divided into two groups according to PKM2 expression, through comparative analysis, we found that the disease-specific survival rate was relatively lower in the high PKM2 expression group with cirrhotic HCC than in the high PKM2 expression group with non-cirrhotic HCC (P = 0.003) (Fig. 5A). This evidence concerns the gene PKM and hepatocellular carcinoma.