STAT3 and liver cancer: In the study conducted by Xu et al. [22], the IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway would promote the development and progression of HCC through numerous mechanisms of action: stimulation of liver cancer stem cell (LCSCs) proliferation, inhibition of p53 onco-suppressor gene transcription and promotion of the expression of anti-apoptotic cytokines, such as Bcl-xl and Bcl-2.