MAZ and hepatocellular carcinoma: MAZ has been reported to be upregulated in HCC and to promote HCC progression by activating the transcription of the oncogenes CCND1, NEIL3, etc. [32, 33] In addition, the interaction between the FHL3 and MAZ proteins was validated by exogenous IP in HEK293T cells and endogenous IP in Hep3B and MHCC97H cells (Fig. 4C, D).