CD44 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Our data are consistent with the following literature data: (i) Siracusano and colleagues [22] reported a crucial role for CD44 in maintaining the cancer stemness of Huh7; (ii) CD44 expression was observed to increase in HCC progenitor cells (HcPCs) during cancer progression [30]; (iii) CD44 is necessary for the EMT process in HCC cell lines and is associated with the mesenchymal phenotype [31].