TJP1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Western blot analysis also demonstrated that exposure of aHSC-CM to J5 cells significantly increased the expression of N-cadherin, compared to that treated with qHSC-CM, whereas ZO-1 protein was remarkably upregulated in the presence of qHSC-CM, with respect to the sample administrated with aHSC-CM, suggesting that the liver fibrogenic microenvironment could largely affect the EMT of HCC cells (Figure 2A).