These results were similar to those of a previous study in which HIC-5 overexpression was correlated with intra- and extra-hepatic metastasis in human hepatocellular carcinoma.23 Although we did not observe tumor metastasis in vivo directly, the mRNA expression data and xenograft tumor morphology showed that CAF-derived HIC-5 led to a tendency to metastasize. This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1I1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.