In order to establish whether decreased cell viability was related to apoptosis in HCC cell lines, we treated Mahlavu, SNU475 and Hep3B cells for 24 h with increasing concentrations of the drug, and we analyzed the expression levels of PARP, Caspase 9 and the effector Caspase 7. This evidence concerns the gene CASP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma.