NUPR1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In view of the results above, we investigated NUPR1 expression in HCC (n=21), in liver cirrhosis (n=3) and in NL tissues (n=3) by immunohistochemistry (Figure 3a) and by quantitative-PCR (qPCR) in 17 patients with liver cirrhosis-associated HCC, in 5 surrounding non-tumor regions (cirrhotic tissues) and in 4 NL tissues (Figure 3b).