To further validate the synthetic lethal effects of CDC7 and ATR-CHK1 inhibition, we studied combinations of different CDC7 inhibitors (LY3177833 and TAK-931) and another ATR inhibitor (BAY-1895344) or CHK1 inhibitor (LY2606368) in HCC cell lines (Additional file 2: Fig. S4a-d and Additional file 2: Fig. S5a-d). This evidence concerns the gene CHEK1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.