CASP3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Moreover, the combined use of berberine and sorafenib is effective in liver carcinoma because berberine increases the sensitivity of HCC (HepG2 and SMMC-7721) cells to sorafenib, which ultimately inhibits the growth and proliferation and induces apoptosis by increasing the expression of cleaved PARP and cleaved caspase-3, while decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 and VEGF markers [84].