SALL4 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), various molecules expressed during hepatic organogenesis such as epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), cluster of differentiation (CD) 90, CD133, CD24, CD13, sal-like protein 4 (SALL4), and keratin 19 (K19), have been reported as CSC markers, and the expressions of these markers have been shown to correlate with a poor prognosis of the patients11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.