GPX4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, qRT-PCR and Western blot analyses revealed that si-Maspin could up-regulate GPX4 mRNA and protein expressions in both HCCLM3 and PLC/PRF/5 cells, while si-Maspin + in-016975 could down-regulate the expressions of GPX4, showing that hsa_piR_016975 regulated GPX4 expression by targeting Maspin in HCC cells (Fig. 6M and N).