Furthermore, we confirmed expression of EMP3 in 5 human HCC cells (HA22T/VGH, SK-Hep-1, Huh-7, PLC/PRF/5 and HepG2) and one normal hepatic cell (THLE-2), the expression levels of EMP3 in poor differentiated HCC cell lines, HA22T/VGH and SK-Hep-1, were much higher than that in moderate differentiated PLC/PRF/5 and Huh-7 and well differentiated HepG2 cell lines, and lowest in THLE-2 normal hepatic cell line, as determined by immunoblotting (Figure 1C) and immunofluorescence (IF) staining (Figure 1D). Here, EMP3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.