The previous study confirmed that Gal-9 significantly inhibits the growth of HCC cell lines inducing apoptosis in vitro and in vivo (Fujita et al., 2015), and decreases the adhesion and invasive abilities of HepG2 cells toward extracellular matrix, and prevents the tumor metastasis (Zhang et al., 2012). The gene discussed is LGALS9; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.