STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In the present study, we have shown that mortalin promoted the migration and invasion of HCC cell lines by regulating the RECK/STAT3 signaling pathway: mortalin down-regulated the expression of RECK protein, and the down-regulation of mortalin led to the up-regulation of RECK protein, which in turn led to the down-regulation of the downstream STAT3 and MMP2/MMP9 signaling pathway.