In an independent cohort of 372 HCC tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) dataset, PCK1 was negatively correlated with MMP9 or MMP14 mRNA expression level (Fig. 7h, i; r = −0.29 (MMP9), −0.34 (MMP14)) and survival analysis showed that patients with lower levels of PCK1 and higher levels of TWIST1, or lower levels of both PCK1 and CDH1 had poorer overall survival (OS) (Fig. 7j, k). This evidence concerns the gene MMP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma.