Results from western blot in SMYD3 stable overexpressing or knockdown cells and cells with SMYD3 inhibition, and IHC in 25 pairs of primary HCC tissues, mPVTTs, as well as microvascular invasion (MVIs) further supported the regulation of Slug by SMYD3 (Additional file 3: Figure S4A-S4C, Figure S5A; Additional file 1: Table S4). The gene discussed is SNAI2; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.