Bel 7702

L02, HepG2, HCCLM3, MHCC97H, and BEL-7702 cell lines were purchased from Shanghai Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Science (Shanghai, People’s Republic of China). All cell lines were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM; Gibco, Carlsbad, CA, USA), supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Gibco), and then incubated with 5% CO₂ at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere.

Human HCC cell lines SNU‐739, SNU‐368, HLE, HLF, SNU‐878, and normal liver cell line Bel‐7702 were purchased from Shanghai Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The cell lines were authenticated using short tandem repeat DNA testing by the FMMU Center for DNA Typing in 2018. The HCC cells were routinely cultured. In addition, 176 human HCC tissue samples and clinical data were described in our previous study (permission number: KY20173189‐1; date issued: 6 March 2017).¹⁹ To avoid the contamination of tumor cells, peritumor liver tissues were dissected 2‐5 cm away from HCC tissue, which were further histologically confirmed by H&E staining.