Figure 3(a) revealed that the proliferation ability of the Hep-G2 cell reduced significantly after infection with sh-LOXL1-AS1 for 5 d in MTT assay (P < 0.01). In addition, the colony formation assay also revealed that silencing of LOXL1-AS1 significantly decreased the number and size of Hep-G2 cell colonies (Figures 3(b) and 3(c)) compared with the Con and NC groups (P < 0.01). Here, LOXL1 is linked to infection.