Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a hyper-vascular tumour1 involving dysregulation of several angiogenic growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),2–4 epidermal growth factor (EGF),2–4 platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)2–4 and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) .5 Sorafenib is a small-molecule kinase inhibitor of VEGFR, PDGFR, RAF, c-KIT and FLT-3 6, and is the first approved targeted drug worldwide for first-line treatment in advanced HCC. The gene discussed is KDR; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.