To better understand these unexpected results, we performed migration, invasion and proliferation assays in three hepatic-derived cell lines: polarized, differentiated WIF-B cells (with endogenous MAL2 expression), hepatocellular carcinoma-(HCC)-derived Hep3B cells (with endogenous MAL2 levels) and hepatoma-derived Clone9 cells (with no MAL2 expression). This evidence concerns the gene MAL2 and hepatocellular carcinoma.