Sorafenib (purity ≥ 99%) was purchased from Biovision. MPT0E028 and vorinostat (purity ≥ 98%) were synthesized by Dr. Jing-Ping Liou's Laboratory (Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; ref. 13 (link)). EGTA, EDTA (disodium salt), leupeptin, dithiothreitol, propidium iodide, MTT, phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF), ribonuclease A, z-VAD– FMK, Ac-DEVD–CHO, PD98059, PD173074, and all of the other chemical reagents were obtained from Sigma. RPMI-1640 medium, Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), FBS, penicillin, streptomycin, and all other tissue culture regents were obtained from GIBCO/BRL Life Technologies. The following antibodies were used: caspase-8, caspase-9, p21, histone H3, acetyl-a-tubulin, phospho-Erk, and Erk (Cell Signaling Technology); Mcl-1, PARP, and FGFR3 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology); acetyl-histone H3 and pan-actin (Millipore); caspase-3 (Imgenex); phospho-Stat3- Tyr705 and phospho-Stat3-Ser727 (Epitomics); and Stat3 (BD Biosciences).