MYC and cancer: Myc is a potent oncogene, which appears to be constitutively up-regulated in many human cancers, representing a phenomenon of "oncogene addiction." Though about 30% of HCC cases show an up-regulation of Myc because of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway[63], its increased expression in HCC is also attributable to the activation of its locus through chromosome amplification [64] One possible mechanism by which Myc contributes to hepatocarcinogenesis is through the induction of telomerase, which also appears to be active during HCC development[65], thereby bypassing cellular senescence.