Plate cloning assays, CCK-8 assays and cell suspension assays showed that overexpression of PRMT1 promoted the colony-forming ability (Fig. 3A), cell viability (Fig. 3B) and stemness (Fig. 3C) of HCC cells, whereas overexpression of PRMT1 with concomitant interference of ME2 expression reversed this effect (Fig. 3A–C). Here, ME2 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.