We first detected LOXL3-S704 phosphorylation, and AK2 and DHODH protein levels, in the cancer and adjacent tissues of these 50 HCC patients, using the indicated antibodies with the first validating their specificity (Supplementary Fig. 7b): LOXL3-S704 phosphorylation was significantly upregulated in the human HCC tissue (Fig. 7a). This evidence concerns the gene AK2 and cancer.