Among the broad spectrum of biological properties exhibited by vilasinin deriv­atives, TS3 has been found to induce apoptosis in human hepatoma cell lines, to inter­fere with NFkB signaling and to enhance cAMP-regulated chloride conductance of cells expressing CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) (deCa­rvalho et al., 2002 ▸). Here, CFTR is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.