In a diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and CCl4-induced mouse HCC model, which mimics many features of the development of human HCC such as fibrogenesis32, conditional knockout of HK1 in HSCs of Hk1f/f;Gfap-Cre mice obviously retarded the progression of HCC (Fig. 4i) and decreased HK1 and Ki67 expression in primary tumor tissues (Fig. 4j). Here, HK1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.