STAT3 and esophageal cancer: Co-transfection with miR-124 and constructs containing the 3’UTR of miR-124 putative binding site led to significant suppression of luciferase activity in both esophageal cancer cell lines (Figure 1A), suggesting that miR-124 suppressed the transcription activity of STAT3 gene in esophageal cancer cells by targeting the putative 3’UTR of STAT3 mRNA independently.