In addition, Asayama Y performed an immunohistochemical study on 8 cases of HCC and its intrahepatic metastases, and found that the expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin of intrahepatic metastases was similar to or even higher than those of primary lesions, suggesting that E-cadherin and beta-catenin might be significantly correlated with the metastatic tumor formation of HCC [6]. This evidence concerns the gene CTNNB1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.