AREG and hepatocellular carcinoma: In our liver studies, Merlin expression is strictly associated with that of both aromatase and AREG, resulting prominent in HCC, intermediary in cirrhotic tissues and markedly lower in nontumoral liver; interestingly, NF2 is also proportionally expressed with the truncated hERα36 splice variant and inversely related to wild type hERα66 (see Figure 6) [54].