The treatment of Huh-7 cells with LY294002 (PI3K-specific inhibitor), PD98059 (ERK-specific inhibitor), or rapamycin (mTOR inhibitor) had similar inhibitory effects to those of 4-AAQB on Huh-7 cell proliferation, indicating that 4-AAQB inhibited HCC by suppressing the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and ERK pathways. Here, MTOR is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.