POU5F1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In HCC, many CSCs biomarkers had been verified, among which EpCAM and PROM1 (CD133) were the two familiar ones.17, 28, 29 High EpCAM and CD133 expressed liver cancer cells usually possessed tumor-initiating or stemness-like property,17 and reprogrammed by a panel of pluripotency transcript factors, such as Sox2, Nanog, Klf4, Oct4 and so on.30, 31 EpCAM itself was regulated directly by Oct417 and CD133 regulated by numerous factors as Nanog, Oct4, Sox2 and c-Myc.21, 32, 33, 34 These molecules consist of imprinted signatures of HCC CSCs.