Besides breast cancer cells, blockage of c-Myc and TGF-β pathways in Smyca-overexpressing HCC cell line NTU-BL also showed contrasting effects on cell proliferation and the expression of cell cycle regulators CDKN1A and CCNA1 (also known as cyclin A1) (Additional file 1: Fig. S7H, I). Here, CDKN1A is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.