MAPK8 and hepatocellular carcinoma: It was recently demonstrated that adiponectin stimulates JNK activation in prostate cancer (DU145, PC-3 and LNCaP-FGC cells), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells and C2C12 myoblasts, but also drastically suppresses STAT3 activation in DU145 and HepG2 cells, in which STAT3 is constitutively activated (Miyazaki et al, 2005).