Interestingly, in the Hras12V-induced HCC, the mRNA levels of androgen and estrogen receptors were significantly down-regulated in both sexes, and consistently, the sex-responsive genes were also significantly down-regulated in males and females (Fig. 6), which leads to a minimal difference in protein expression profiles between HCC tissues of males and females. This evidence concerns the gene ESR1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.