ACTA1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: CAFs are therefore implicated in cancer progression; indeed, the expression of α-SMA, a marker commonly used to assess active myofibroblasts, is more expressed in the tumoral than paired nontumoral tissues of patients with different malignancies, including HCC [48] In 31 iCCA patients, we also report that α-SMA expression is more pronounced in the tumor than in peritumoral tissues, consistent with previous literature.