To further investigate the biological functions of the 5 histone variant genes identified above (HIST1H2BD, HIST1H4K, HIST1H2BH, HIST1H2BJ and HIST1H2AM), 4 HCC cell lines (ME180, C33A, HT3 and Caski) were used. Here, H2BC9 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.