STAT3 and cancer: STAT-3 is a transcriptional regulator found in the cytoplasm of most cells and is activated in response to certain inflammatory stimuli resulting in the production of gene products such as the BCL-XL (B-cell lymphoma-extra large) and other growth factors; most recently, dysregulated function of STAT-3 has been linked to cancer metastasis (Deng et al., 2012).