The gene-based association analysis suggested four suggestively significant genes including SLC39A8, GOLGA8M, SMIM31and WHAMMP2. The gene-set-based association analysis prioritized three top genes (CDC45, NCOR1 and KAT2A), which have been implicated with HCC previously, mainly through regulated expression. Here, NCOR1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.