Although, p53 is reported to negatively regulate the phosphorylation and DNA binding activity of STAT3 through facilitating the tumor suppressor PTEN [36], [45], our data revealed that TMOC elicited anti-proliferation function and inhibited the phosphorylation of STAT3 regardless p53 status, which may indicate that the anti-cancer activity of TMOC is p53-independent. Here, PTEN is linked to cancer.