It was reported that hepatocellular carcinoma could arise from IL-6/STAT3 driven transformed stem cells with inactivated TGF-β signaling and that human hepatocellular cancer cells expressing STAT3 and the putative stem cell markers Octamer-binding Transcription Factor 4 (OCT4) and Nanog lost pro-differentiation proteins TGF-β-receptor type II and Embryonic Liver Fodrin [141]. Here, NANOG is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.