EGFR and cancer: Although genomic EGFR amplification and mutations have been reported to contribute to EGFR overexpression and activation in various types of cancers, including glioblastoma14, oligodendroglioma11, non-small-cell lung cancer9 and gastric carcinomas32, such genomic alterations of EGFR are barely reported in HCCs8,13, suggesting the existence of other mechanisms leading to the high frequency of EGFR overexpression and activation in HCCs.