The effect of curcumin on JAK-STAT signaling pathway was investigated in hepatoma cell lines Huh7 and Hep3B.  Curcumin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of both cell lines, but Huh7  cells were more sensitive to curcumin than Hep3B cells.  Curcumin (50 μmol·L⁻¹) significantly increased  phosphorylations of p38 (T180/Y182) and STAT-1 (S727) in Huh7 and Hep3B cells, and caused relocalization of phosphorylated-STAT-1 (Y701) from cytoplasm to nucleus in Hep3B cells.  In addition, curcumin (25 and 50 μmol·L⁻¹) dramatically suppressed the phosphorylation level of STAT-1 (Y701) and resulted in a significant   reduction of nuclear phosphorylated-STAT-1 (Y701) in Huh7 cells.