In turn, the signal transducers and activators of transcription family 3 (STAT3) protein, which has been historically studied as a signal transduction and transcriptive activation factor, has also been shown by several groups to be easily activated by cerebral ischemic injury, implicating that it may play a vital role in the pathophysiological process of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury as well16–18. This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and brain ischemia.