GH1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To further determine the functional roles of autocrine hGH in HCC cells, two different HCC cell lines (Huh7 and Hep3B) and one hepatoma cell line (HepG2) were stably transfected with the hGH expression vector (designated as Huh7-hGH, Hep3B-hGH, and HepG2-hGH cells) or the empty pcDNA3.1 vector (designated as Huh7-Vec, Hep3B-Vec, and HepG2-Vec cells).