CAPRIN1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: After examination of caprin-1 level in HCC cell and normal liver cell lines (Fig. 7A), we silenced caprin-1 by four designed siRNAs in SMMC7721 cell lines, the siRNA caprin-1–2 resulted in the most significant downregulation of caprin-1, and it also decreased the protein level of caprin-1, so it was selected for subsequent experiments (Fig. 7A).