Subsequently, we confirmed KIAA1429 upregulation in 70 pairs of HCC tissues from the West China Hospital (WCH) dataset by quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis, consistently demonstrating that the expression of KIAA1429 was dramatically upregulated in HCC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues (Fig. 1a). This evidence concerns the gene VIRMA and hepatocellular carcinoma.