In addition to the intrinsic mechanisms described above, TMEM16A also achieves specificity of its effects in different cancers through the heterogeneity of downstream signaling pathways, such as the p38 and ERK1/2 signaling pathway in hepatoma (Deng et al., 2016), the Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK1/2 signaling pathway in HNSCC and bladder cancer (Duvvuri et al., 2012), and the NF-κB signaling pathway in glioma (Liu et al., 2014). The gene discussed is MAPK3; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.