Consistent with a previous report that 47.9% of human liver tumors showed promoter hypermethylation of the LIFR gene22, analysis of TCGA data revealed a significant inverse correlation between LIFR gene methylation levels and LIFR mRNA levels in HCC (Supplementary Fig. 1a), suggesting that DNA methylation may contribute to (but may not be the only cause of) LIFR downregulation in HCC. The gene discussed is LIFR; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.