Given that miR-379 could suppress the IGF1/IGF1R and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma (Chen et al., 2016; Huang et al., 2016), and DLK1 is the potential target gene of miR-329 that may be involved in IGF1 signaling and muscle growth through Akt phosphorylation (Glass, 2005; Nueda et al., 2008). Here, DLK1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.