Importantly, to achieve a comparable HCC stage in recipient animals, we selected those age- and gender-matched HCC-harboring animals which showed similar values in the classical diagnostic parameters for HCC and other liver diseases used in the clinic (26): aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Here, GPT is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.