CD44 and neoplasm: Western blots from tumor samples of HNC0014 and the combination groups revealed reduced expression levels of c-Met, c-Metp, STAT3, STAT3p, CD44, β-catenin, and PD-L1, but increased expressions of the apoptotic markers poly(ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP) and caspase-3 and their cleaved forms (c_PARP and c_Cas 3) (Figure 5D).