AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: Later, by comparing miRNA expression profiles between hepatic stem cell-like hepatocellular carcinoma (HpSC-HCC) and mature hepatocyte-like hepatocellular carcinoma (MH-HCC), Ji et al. unraveled the specific miRNAs preferentially expressed in HpSC-HCC and demonstrated that the highly conserved miR-181 family are highly expressed in EpCAM+AFP+ cells isolated from AFP+ HCC tumor specimens [69].