HOXA9 and cancer: Dong et al. reported that several genes, such as RASSF1A, APC, Blood Vessel Epicardial Substance (BVES), Homeobox A9 (HOXA9), GSTP1, and Tissue Inhibitor of Metallopeptidase Inhibitor 3 (TIMP3), were hypermethylated in cancer biopsies of 343 HCC patients but only RASSF1A, BVES, and HOXA9 gene promoters were found significantly hypermethylated also in the sera of these patients [17].