EGFR signaling has been shown to play an important role in liver diseases49 while Erlotinib, an EGFR inhibitor, was suggested to be an potential therapeutic agent50 until the failure to demonstrate its efficacy in a phase III trial51.Although study on the combination of bevacizumab, an anti VEGFa antibody, and erlotinib has yielded promising results52, the clinical use of erlotinib in hepatocellular carcinoma has yet to be elucidated, especially, whether expression of β-defensin 1 could be a predictive biomarker for erlotinib warrant further investigation. Here, EGFR is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.