Further, multivariate analysis showed that high protein expression levels of E2F1 (HR = 3.51, 95% CI: 1.177–10.469, p = 0.024), E2F2 (HR = 5.038, 95% CI: 1.145–22.168, p = 0.032), E2F7 (HR = 8.443, 95% CI: 1.089–65.443, p = 0.041), and E2F8 (HR = 4.393, 95% CI: 1.017–18.975, p = 0.047) were independently associated with significantly shorter OS of patients with cervical cancer (Additional file 2: Tables S2–S5, right table). The gene discussed is E2F1; the disease is cervical cancer.