In cancer cells, by comparison of the effects of an EGFR TKI and EGFR siRNA, it was found that EGFR maintained survival of prostate cancer cells independent of its kinase activity, i.e., TKI inhibited cell proliferation without effecting on cell survival whereas loss-of-EGFR expression induced by siRNA knockdown led to severe autophagic cell death that could be rescued by a kinase-dead EGFR (142). This evidence concerns the gene EGFR and cancer.