In addition, our result demonstrated that MSCs in tumor microenvironment could trigger EMT in liver cancer cells, similar to the previous studies, which suggested that molecules such as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, secreted by MSCs, could activate a series of EMT-promoting transcription factors to transmit EMT-promoting signals36,37. Here, HGF is linked to neoplasm.