Figure 2.

STAT3-mediated oncogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). IL-6 and IL-22 are major stimuli that activate STAT3 signaling in HCC cells. Activated STAT3 promotes HCC cell proliferation, anti-apoptosis, migration, invasion, angiogenesis and stemness properties via transcriptional regulation of target genes, cooperation with NF-kB and epigenetic regulation involving miRNA. A paracrine STAT3 activation loop between tumor and stromal cells also exerts suppressive effects in various immune cells in the HCC tumor microenvironment.