Meanwhile, celastrol has been demonstrated to decrease the hepatic lesions and elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) in diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rats, due to activation of mitochondrial apoptosis induced by p53 (Chang et al., 2016; Saber et al., 2020). This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and hepatocellular carcinoma.