PHF5A and hepatocellular carcinoma: Subsequently, qPCR and western blotting assay showed that the expression of PHF5A is markedly increased in HCC cell lines (MHCC97H, Hep3B, HepG2, Hub7, SNU-449, SNU-423, and BEL-7402) compared to normal human immortalized hepatocyte LO2 cells on both mRNA and protein level (Figure 2(a)).