HNF4α circuit is perturbed during HCC progression. (A) Assessment of HNF4α, IL6R, miR-24 and miR-124 levels in total RNAs derived from 45 hepatocellular carcinomas, according to their tumor stage. The experiments have been performed in triplicate and data are shown as mean ± SD. (B) HCC sections were subjected to immunohistochemistry for HNF4α and phospho-STAT3 (Tyr705) (DAB staining, brown) and counterstained with haematoxylin (blue) and in situ hybridization for miR-124 and miR-24 and counterstained with nuclear fast red. Representative pictures are shown from normal, HCC grade I and HCC grade III tissues. Bar, 50μm.