It is noted that elevated expression and activity of N-acetyl-glucosaminyltransferase-V (Mgat5), which catalyses the biosynthesis of β-1–6-linked GlcNAc in N-glycans and hence increases N-glycan branching,27 has been reported previously to promote anchorage-independent growth and inhibit anoikis in two hepatoma cell lines.28 Although N-glycans make only a small contribution to the overall glycosylation of mucin proteins like MUC1, their influence in the hepatoma cells is broadly in agreement with a role of glycosylation in anoikis shown in this study. This evidence concerns the gene MUC1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.