Figure 1.

 (A) Flow cytometric analysis of various surface molecules in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. Percentages of the indicated molecule positive cells are shown. A representative result of three independent staining experiments is shown. (B) Western blot analysis of the expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in cell lines. The blotting for EpCAM (upper panel) and tubulin as a loading control (lower panel) are shown. (C) FACS analysis of resected HCC. Eight independent primary tissues were prepared and stained, as described in the Materials and Methods. Percentages of EpCAM‐positive cells are indicated with SEM. A representative result is shown. (D) Immunohistochemical staining of EpCAM in resected HCC. The specimens were stained with an anti‐EpCAM Ab followed by incubation with a peroxidase‐conjugated anti‐mouse Ig Ab. Black arrows indicate cells with high EpCAM expression. well, well‐differentiated HCC; mod, moderately differentiated HCC; poor, poorly differentiated HCC.