ELF3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: By first comparing the basal levels of ESE-1 and GP73 proteins in different HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, Huh7), we found that Huh7 cells with high level of ESE-1 protein exhibited high level of GP73, whereas HepG2 cells with minimal ESE-1 protein showed minimal GP73 (Figure 1A).