Primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 7th most common cancer in humans; 9th in women (figures from the Association for Research against Cancer ARC). This cancer is a major public health problem on a global scale. Patients, whose diagnosis is often late, are at advanced stages of the pathology, even those who benefit from locoregional treatments have a poor prognosis and suffer from a lack of curative therapeutic strategies. CHC is highly refractory to cytotoxic chemotherapy and so far the response rates to conventional systemic chemotherapy has provided a clinical benefit where survival was prolonged by more than 25% in patients with advanced CHC. Further efforts are needed to effectively manage HCC. Knowledge of the mechanisms regulating proliferation and inhibiting the sensitivity of transformed cells to apoptosis is the key to the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.