EPCAM and hepatocellular carcinoma: Meanwhile, the stemness properties of the treated HCC cells with mTOR inhibitor grown on higher stiffness substrate were all attenuated significantly, including the proportion of CD133(+)/ EpCAM(+) cells, self-renewing ability and oxaliplatin resistance (Figure 2B), further exhibiting an important regulating role of mTOR signaling pathway in matrix stiffness-mediated effects on stemness.