Survival analysis using the gene expression profiling interaction analysis (GEPIA; http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/index.html) database revealed that the survival rate of HCC patients in the E2F4-high cohort was lower than that of patients in the E2F4-low cohort (Fig. 1C), which was consistent with the findings of Huang et al. 11,14. This evidence concerns the gene E2F4 and hepatocellular carcinoma.