CHUK and hepatocellular carcinoma: In addition, we showed that HSP20 stimulates apoptosis of HCC cells by direct interaction with Bax, and that HSP20 down-regulates tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-stimulated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway by suppression of inhibitor κB kinase (IKK)-α expression in human HCC [21,22].