CD44 and hepatocellular carcinoma: RT-qPCR analysis on elderly HCCs demonstrated that the high expression levels of 7 putative hepatic stem/progenitor cell biomarkers (including keratin 19 (K19), ABCG2, CD44, Nestin, CD133, EPCAM and OV6), is related to tumor angiogenesis and a poor prognosis for the HCC [15,28].