Extensive research over the past decade has identified several specific cellular signaling pathways that are affected in chemo-refractory liver cancer, such as signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), NOTCH, hedgehog and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which are involved in the self-renewal, differentiation and survival of HCC cells [15–18]. Here, STAT3 is linked to liver cancer.