Decreased phosphorylated AKT was reported to promote the expression level of p27,38 which directly repressed the transcription of SOX2. 39 In this study, downregulation of SOX2 by shRNA inhibited the elevation effect of LPS on the proportion of CD133+CD49f+ cells, side population, and sphere formation capacity, suggesting that besides NANOG, SOX2 is also one of the factors that mediate the stemness‐promotion effect of TLR4 in HCC. Here, NANOG is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.