We observed that the culture medium of Wnt2b-overexpressed macrophages could noticeably upregulate the expression of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and vimentin, and the EMT-related transcription factors Snail, Twist and ZEB1 in HCC cells (Fig. 3a; Supplementary Fig. 3A), but downregulated the E-cadherin/N-cadherin ratio in HCC cells (Supplementary Fig. 3D). This evidence concerns the gene VIM and hepatocellular carcinoma.