STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Compared with the control cells and NC cells, after treatment with Stattic, the fluorescence intensity of TMRE noticeably decreased, and the number of apoptotic cells with condensed and fragmented nuclei was higher with the Hoechst 33342 staining assay (Figure 5A–D), which indicated that STAT3 is an important factor in inhibiting the apoptosis in HCC cells.