HIF1A and cancer: To confirm the relationship between EMT and HIF-1α, we measured basal HIF-1α expression in a series of liver tumor cell lines, and found that HIF-1α levels were greater in cancer cells with mesenchymal phenotype (i.e., SNU398, SNU449, SNU878, and SK-Hep1) than in those with epithelial phenotype (i.e., Hep3B, HepG2, and PLC/PRF5) (Figure 1A).