In contrast, previous studies suggest that SOX9 exacerbates the malignancy of HCC and promotes cancer progression, which may be attributed to SOX9 being responsible for the induction of CXCL5 in hepatoma cells, thereby facilitating the proliferation and invasion of HCC tumor cells through autocrine CXCL5/CXCR2 signaling [46]. Here, SOX9 is linked to cancer.