CD44 and hepatocellular carcinoma: The purpose of the present study was first to investigate the mRNA expression of CD133, CD90, CD44, ALDH 1, CK7, CK19, OCT4, SOX2, vimentin, nestin, CD13 and EpCam in tumor and peritumoral tissues from HCC patients and then to validate the protein expression of these markers with significant differences in mRNA levels in the tumor and peritumoral tissues of HCC patients.