Out of 19 candidate driver genes identified in our analysis, 8 of them have been reported as driver genes in at least one of 12 previous HCC studies11,16,23,26–34, while 11 genes (GTF2IRD2B, PNRC2, AK2, VPS13A, SPTA1, PCLO, CSMD2, SMC6, DYNC2H1, FKBP9, and PCDH7) have not been reported before (Supplementary Data 10). Here, AK2 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.