HK2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In liver carcinomas, pSTAT3 increases HKII mRNA and protein contents (Figure 1, Table 2): pSTAT3 also increases HIF-1α and GLUT1 mRNAs in HBV and HCV virus-related hepatocarcinoma and upregulates both glucose consumption and lactate production in HepG2 and Hep3B hepatocellular cancer cells (Table 2), most likely by increasing HIF-1α-mediated transcription of most glycolytic genes.