CXCR4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Indeed, it has been reported that SDF-1/CXCR4 promotes EMT and progression of colorectal cancer (Hu et al., 2014), oral squamous cell carcinoma, (Onoue et al., 2006), hepatocellular carcinoma (Li et al., 2014), and pancreatic cancer cells (Li et al., 2012).