Our bio-informatic analysis identified 25 hypoxia upregulated genes in chronic HBV infected patients, including LOXL2, SMIM3, TNS1, and IGFBP1. Notably, LOXL2 overexpression in HCC was previously associated with high tumour grade, metastasis, and poor patient overall and disease-free survival59. Here, SMIM3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.