EPCAM and hepatocellular carcinoma: When the sorted EpCAM+ HCC cells were cultured for a week, the EpCAM+ fraction slightly decreased from 90.3 to 87.1% in HCC1 and 86.6 to 75.3% in HCC2 (Fig. 1b); this is consistent with the ability of EpCAM+ cells to divide asymmetrically in vitro and to generate EpCAM− cells.