CXCL1 and liver cancer: It has also been reported that in the microenvironment of liver cancer, hepatic astrocytes could secrete CXCL1, which helps to induce epithelial–mesenchymal transformation of hepatocarcinoma cells, resistance to regulation, migration, and invasion, and degradation of extracellular matrix by activating the PI3K/AKT pathway (Sobolik et al., 2014).