Figure 4

Correlation between p-STAT1 and p-STAT3 with IL-6 expression. Immunostain expression of p-STAT1 and p-STAT3 in three identical HCC tissues. Immunoreactivity exhibited in nuclei or cytoplasm of hepatocyte was designated Level I (<10%), II (≧10% to ≦25%), or III (≧25%) (×400 magnifications) (brown cell as arrow shows positive immunostain) (Figure 4A). Tissue p-STAT3 presented a predominant immunostain rate (≧10% immunoreactivities) unlike p-STAT1 in all specimens (Figure 4B left) and HCC specimens (Figure 4B right). Rising immunoreactivity of p-STAT3 versus p-STAT1 positively correlated with over-expression of serum IL-6 rather than IL-27 and TNF-α and VEGF in all specimens (Figure 4C) and HCC specimens (Figure 4D) (relationships of IL-27 and TNF-α and VEGF with p-STAT1 and p-STAT3 shown in Results), *P < 0.05 defined as significant.