ANPEP and hepatocellular carcinoma: To examine the mRNA and protein levels of CD13 in HCC, firstly we performed qRT‐PCR and WB analyses in a panel of HCC cell lines, ranging from low metastatic potential (such as PLC/PRF/5, L02, HepG2, Huh7) to high metastatic potential (such as MHCC97L, MHCC97H, and HCCLM3).