HIF1A and hepatocellular carcinoma: And TACE resulted in significant acute inflammatory response in both HCC and adjacent liver tissues, hence, we raised a hypothesis that TACE-driven activation of IL-6/STAT3 pathway modulated HIF-1α-induced EMT, and consequently accelerated the growth and metastases of residual HCC cells and attenuated the anti-tumor effect of chemotherapy drugs, which was attributed to TACE treatment failure.