CD44 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To gain insight into the relationship between CD44 and the mesenchymal phenotype in HCC cells, we examined the mRNA, protein expression of CD44 and EMT representative markers (E-cadherin and N-cadherin) in 4 different HCC cell lines (Huh7, SMMC-7721, MHCC97-H and HepG2), which have different invasion capacities, according to a study from our group [24].