CXCL12 and hepatocellular carcinoma: As appropriate patient selection has been implicated to contribute significantly for achieving clinically meaningful results in cancer drug discovery and development, our recent publication addresses the mechanistic aspects of the synergistic effects of aspirin and sorafenib in the combination therapy for HCC.12 Previous studies have suggested that the observed pro-metastasis effect of sorafenib resulted from the downregulation of the expression of oxidoreductase HTATIP2, a tumor suppressor in HCC and stromal cell-derived factor 1-α (SDF1-α) expression in tumor microenvironment of HCC.