[Review on the associations of signal transducer and activators of transcription 3 with hepatocellular carcinoma].

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies with high fatality rate in China. To investigate the related risk factors and therapeutic targets, and actively carry out the prevention and early treatment is of great public health value. Signal transducer and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) is the key molecule of multiple inflammation-associated signaling pathways. Recent studies have found that HCC patients have high expressing levels of STAT3 in tumor tissues, and aberrant activation of STAT3 is closely associated with the occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis, and prognosis of HCC. In this paper, we reviewed the researches on the associations of STAT3 with the occurrence and prognosis of HCC and prospected on the issues of causal prophylaxis and targeted therapy for HCC which could offer reference for the protection strategy of HCC.