(A) HE staining showed the cellular infiltrate in CC and BA patient liver samples. The scale bar represents 50 μm. (B) Picrosirius Red staining shows fibrosis in CC and BA patient liver samples. (C) mRNA expression of STAT3 measured by quantitative PCR. ***P<0.001 (n=20 for CC and n=28 for BA). (D) Protein expression of STAT3 and the activated form p-STAT3 determined by Western blotting. N=4 for both CC and BA; one set of representative results is shown. (E) Immunohistochemical staining showed expression of STAT3 and p-STAT3 in BA and CC patient liver samples. The portal areas are shown, and the arrows indicate the positions where BECs can be observed. The solid arrows indicate these features in the CC samples, and the dashed arrows indicate these features in BA. The scale bar represents 50 μm.