MAPK8 and hepatocellular carcinoma: On the molecular level, a number of epigenetic and genetic events have been associated with the development of HCC, including inactivation of tumor suppressor p53 and epigenetic targeting of cancer-related genes such as HIA-2, CDKN2A, p16-INK4a, E-cadherin and T-cadherin, activation of JNK1, ErbB-2, Wnt signaling and multiple receptor tyrosine kinases[24-31].