In Figure 2A,B, it was shown that the mRNA levels of cancer stemness-related genes, including ABCG2, BMI1, NANOG, KLF4, and OCT4 were increased, and the protein expression levels of ABCG2, Oct4, Bmi-1, and CD44 were also increased in HBx-expressing HCC cells compared with pcDNA3.1 transfected cells. Here, CD44 is linked to cancer.