HDGF has been widely documented as an oncogene, inducing tumor occurrence and development including endometrial cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, liver cancer, and breast cancer (Wang and Fang, 2011; Chen et al., 2012; Fu et al., 2017; Min et al., 2018; Liu C. et al., 2019; Xiao et al., 2019). Here, HDGF is linked to liver cancer.