CD81 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To determine whether the C-terminus plays a role in hepatoma spread wild type (wt) or mutant CD81 lacking either the N- or C-termini (CD81ΔN or CD81ΔC) were expressed in HepG2 parental cells, that are devoid of endogenous CD81 expression, or Huh-7 Lunet, a sub-clone that express negligible CD81 (Figure 4a).