As shown in Fig. 2b and c, LM3-shSlit3 and PLC-shSlit3 demonstrated a significantly higher growth rate when compared with their corresponding vector control LM3-shCTL (434.4% vs 355.9%, p = 0.034) and PLC-shCTL (447.4% vs 337.9%, p = 0.039), respectively, suggesting that Slit3 repression significantly induced HCC cell proliferation. The gene discussed is HSPG2; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.