SOX9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Besides, not only during development, but also in the adult organs, SOX9 expression levels appear to be crucial for controlling the cell status of the duct cells [80]. In vitro analysis has shown that SOX9 expression in HCC cell lines was upregulated in comparison to normal hepatic cell lines; furthermore, it was expressed at higher level in highly metastatic cells lines relative to low metastatic cells.