BIRC2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Although overexpression of c-IAP1, c-IAP2 in renal cell carcinoma and in hepatoma cell line expressing hepatitis B virus has been reported [26,27], and Apollon upregulation was associated to chemoresistance in vitro and with unfavorable clinical features at diagnosis [28,29], our results showed that the gene expression levels of these IAP members were similar in HCC and liver parenchyma.