HSF1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To define the effect of HSF1-APOJ-STAT3 axis on CD8+ T cells-mediated cancer cells cytotoxicity in vitro, we co-cultured isolated CD8+ T cells with HCC cells and found that in HCC cells with HSF1 knockdown, CD8+ T cells-mediated cytotoxicity significantly enhanced (Figure 4a); similar result was also observed in HCC cells with APOJ knockdown and C188-9 treatment (Figure 4b-c).