CXCL8 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Western blot and real-time PCR analysis confirmed that both protein expression and mRNA levels of IL-8, integrin αv and integrin β3 were significantly increased in highly metastatic HCC cell lines (HCCLM3 and MHCC97H) compared with low metastatic cell lines (Huh-7 and HepG2; Fig. 1).