GPC3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Taking advantage of our large collection of HCC tissues, our group also contributed to liver carcinogenesis research by reporting that GPC3 (Gypican 3), a heparin sulfate proteoglycan protein with cell proliferation and apoptosis regulatory activity, could be a useful diagnostic marker to differentiate between HCC, non-neoplastic liver disease and pre-neoplastic lesions [46].