STAT3 and ulcerative colitis: Inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are identified to be closely correlated with CRC (called “inflammatory-associated CRC”) where the cytokines, particularly IL-6, drive the development and progression of CRC via downstream activation of JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway, elucidating the oncogenic role of JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway in CRC [33].