In addition to TFs, other genes that are involved in immune response (MARCO) (Sun et al., 2017), iron homeostasis regulation (HAMP) (Ren et al., 2018), proteoglycans synthesis (ECM1 (Chen et al., 2011), DCN (Horvath et al., 2014)) have been reported to be associated with the progression or prognosis of HCC. This evidence concerns the gene DCN and hepatocellular carcinoma.