Recent studies have also shown that lupeol induced apoptosis of HCC cells SMMC7721 by down-regulating death receptor 3 (DR3) [23], and also had in vivo and in vitro therapeutic effect for HCC by targeting liver tumor-initiating cells (T-ICs) through modulating PTEN-Akt-ABCG2 pathway [24]. This evidence concerns the gene PTEN and hepatocellular carcinoma.