STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In addition, Jia C et al. uncovered that IL-6 mediates the promotion of endothelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HCC cells by CAFs through the activation of the IL-6/IL6-R/STAT3 signalling pathway, which in turn promotes the expression of transglutaminase 2 [45], a protein which is strongly related to EMT and upregulated in HCC [46].