STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To get insight into the cell signaling pathways involved in HCC development in Mito-Ob mice, we determined the activation level of PI3K/Akt, MAPK/ERK and STAT3 signaling pathways because they have been implicated in the pathogenesis of HCC1, 26, 41, and have been shown to be modulated by PHB in other cell/tissue types42.