Although COL1A1 was highly expressed in HCC samples (Fig. 1a), the expression of COL1A1 in HCC cell lines was not more than L02 cells (Additional file 4: Figure S1G&H), suggesting that other cell types in tumor microenvironment might contribute more for COL1A1 expression than HCC cells. Here, COL1A1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.