Further, the unbalanced expression of E-cadherin (cell adhesion molecule) and ZEB1 (transcription factor involved in epithelial marker genes repression and mesenchymal marker genes activation) found in macroH2A1 KO cells, with partial regress upon PER1 silencing, pinpoints EMT as a further mechanism driving the malignant phenotype of HCC cells upon macroH2A1 knockdown. Here, PER1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.