STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: After binding with a mannose moiety that resides on hepatoma cell membrane glycoproteins, ConA is internalized to the mitochondria via clathrin-mediated endocytosis to initiate autophagic cell death.24, 52 In this study, we further demonstrated that ConA internalization triggered STAT3 phosphorylation and the release of MIF, which is required for ConA to induce the autophagy and cell death of human hepatoma cells.