CASP3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Accumulating evidence indicates that the RAF/MEK/ERK cascade also has diverse effects on key molecules involved in apoptosis signalling, such as the anti-apoptotic regulatory molecule B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) and apoptotic regulatory molecules including caspase-3 and caspase-916,17 and affects the expression of many proteins involved in cell cycle regulation (e.g., upregulating cyclin D1, which is excessively expressed in HCC)18.