TP53 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Based on the overexpression of TAp73 isoforms in HCC tumors and some HCC cell lines, we decided to further investigate the role of transcriptionally active p73 in HCC by overexpressing TAp73β in Hep3B cells because they display a deletion of TP53 gene resulting in the loss of expression of wild type p53 protein [28].