SMAD3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To further validate the correlation between linc00261 and p-SMAD3 (Ser423/425) expression, we tested the expressionof p-SMAD3 by immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis and linc00261 expression by qRT-PCR in tissues from the same cohort of HCC patients (n = 35; Fig. 7A, B. The p-SMAD3 was expressed at high levels in tumor tissues compared to non-tumor regions (Fig. 7A).