In conclusion, our pictorial abstract (Figure 6) presents preclinical evidence that aberrant expression of COL1A1 is a putative biomarker of HCC initiation and progression and targeting COL1A1 elicits abrogation of HCC resistance to anticancer therapy, metastatic dissemination to secondary sites, self-renewal and disease recurrence. The gene discussed is COL1A1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.