Recent observations suggest that sorafenib induces autophagy in liver cancer cells by modulating several signaling pathways, including the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and SHP-1/STAT3/MCL-1/Beclin-1 pathways, as well as by modulating endoplasmic reticulum stress induction, sphingolipid metabolism imbalance and microRNA transcription alteration (12). The gene discussed is MTOR; the disease is liver cancer.