AREG and hepatocellular carcinoma: For example, An et al. found that in lenvatinib-resistant HCC cells, AhR is aberrantly activated and drives a sustained pro-proliferative signaling pathway (AREG → EGFR → ERK1/2 → Cyclin D1) by directly upregulating the autocrine factor amphiregulin (AREG), ultimately leading to treatment failure (Hu et al., 2025).