CD44 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Despite the growth inhibitory effects observed above, no aberrant expression of pluripotency-related stem cell transcription factors OCT4, SOX2, and PcG protein BMI1 and cell surface marker CD44 were detected in the NPC cells expressing miR-96 or miR-183 by flow cytometry when compared with that of the negative control (Fig. 2d, all P > 0.05).