Although CA9 exhibits the strongest relative importance, UCK2 and FABP5 also represent essential molecular drivers of HCC development and progression.UCK2 is a pyrimidine ribonucleotide kinase, catalyzing the phosphorylation of cytidine and uridine to produce uridine monophosphate and cytidine monophosphate, thereby participating in pyrimidine nucleotide metabolism (47). Here, FABP5 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.