Notably, knockout of Lifr drastically increased p65 phosphorylation in PHM cells, which could be reversed by re-expression of LIFR (Fig. 3f); the same effect was observed in LIFR-knockdown human liver cancer cell lines, Mahlavu and PLC/PRF/5 (Fig. 3g and Supplementary Fig. 5a). This evidence concerns the gene LIFR and liver cancer.