VRK2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: For example, elevated nuclear protein 1 (NUPR1), vaccinia-related kinase 2 (VRK2) and reduced let-7, miR-142-3p, miR-34a, and miR-486-3p expression are observed in sorafenib-resistant HCC and these genes are found to correlate with autophagy or apoptosis [8–13].