Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that a short-term exposure (as little as 15 min) to MH caused a reduction in pY-STAT3 and blocked subsequent IL-6 synthesis in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, thereby identifying the IL-6/STAT3 autocrine growth pathway as a potential main target of MH in human breast cancer cells. This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and breast carcinoma.