To determine the role of apoptosis and autophagy pathways in these erlotinib-resistant HCC-derived EGFR mutants, we used immunoblotting to monitor the effectors and molecular markers of apoptosis and autophagy: the activational cleavage of caspase-3, an executioner caspase; the cleavage of Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), the primary apoptotic substrate of active caspase-3 and caspase-7, and LC3-phosphatidylethanolamine conjugate (LC3-II), a surrogate marker of autophagy and autophagy-related processes [31, 32]. This evidence concerns the gene CASP7 and hepatocellular carcinoma.