As consistently shown by qRT-PCR and Western blot, CD44 was abundantly expressed in mesenchymal SMMC-7721 and MHCC97-H cells, which have higher E-cadherin and lower N-cadherin than the epithelial Huh7 and HepG2 cells, indicating that the CD44 level was associated with maintenance of the mesenchymal phenotype in HCC cell lines. This evidence concerns the gene CDH1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.