ACSL4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: We focused on the same tendency and the most significant alterations between DEGs and their corresponding DEPs, which may play an important role in HCC pathogenesis, as delineated in Fig. 5C. Based on the results of the correlation analysis, six DEGs (LCAT, PEMT, ACSL1, GPD1, LPCAT1, and ACSL4) were selected for validation by qRT-PCR.