HOXC-AS3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Following that, we looked for HOXC-AS3 expression in HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, ALEX, HLF, and 97H), and the qRT-PCR results showed that HOXC-AS3 was strongly expressed in HCC cells compared to the human hepatocyte cell line 7702.