Yang et al. discovered that exosomal miRNA-146a-5p, produced by aged HCC cells, can inhibit HCC cell proliferation by suppressing aerobic glycolysis and promote HCC cell senescence by activating the CHK2/p53/p21 signaling pathway via targeting IRF7 (Yang et al., 2024). The gene discussed is CDKN1A; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.