A subsequent quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis of another cohort of 80 pairs of HCC samples confirmed this positive relationship (62.5%, 50/80) (Supplementary Fig. 1), and the expression levels of SMYD3 were remarkably higher in the tumor specimens than those in matched noncancerous tissues (Fig. 1B). The gene discussed is SMYD3; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.