Therefore, the ability to form tumorspheres or colonies in soft agar, the expression levels of several known HCC stem markers (OCT4, SOX2, BMI1) [20, 21], the percentage of HCC stem marker CD133+ cells [22], and a xenograft model were employed to assess the effect of FVTF on HCC stem properties. Here, BMI1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.