POU5F1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To verify the regulation of OCT4 and BIRC5 expression in HCC cells, a plasmid vector expressing BIRC5-specific small hairpin RNA (BIRC5-shRNA) or OCT4-specific small hairpin RNA (OCT4-shRNA) and an adenovirus vector expressing OCT4 (Ad5-OCT4) were constructed and used to manipulate the expression of BIRC5 and OCT4 in HCC cells.