The common genes/proteins increased in recurrent HCC were significantly associated with cancer signaling pathways including PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (p = 0.002) and Ras signaling pathway (p = 0.010) (Additional file 8: Table S4), as well as TGF-β signaling pathway (p = 0.0099) and extracellular matrix (ECM) receptor interaction (p = 0.0099). This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and cancer.