Potential limitations of the present study were that a specific examination of STAT1 and STAT3 in stromal tissue and in inflammatory cells was not carried since Chan and colleagues have reported that STAT1 expression may vary between tumour cells and the associated stroma, and have reported a selective loss of STAT1 expression in breast cancer cells but not in the surrounding stromal cells during tumour progression. This evidence concerns the gene STAT1 and breast cancer.