STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To further validate the significance of the STAT3 pathway in hepatocytes in mediating anti-PD-1 resistance in HCC, we used Stat3 flox/floxAlb-cre+ mice (experiment) which lacked Stat3 in hepatocytes and Stat3 flox/floxAlb-cre- mice (control) to build HCC models.