CASP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Changes in the expression of regulatory proteins for mitochondrial dynamics promote this phenotype.7 Huang et al. demonstrated that DRP1-mediated mitochondrial fission enhances the survival of HCC cells by suppressing mitochondria-dependent apoptosis.40 They reported that the overexpression of DRP1 inhibited the release of cytochrome c as well as the cleavage of caspases 9 and 3.