STAT3 and cardiac hypertrophy: In a mouse model of abdominal aortic constriction, which results in a more gradual increase in pressure overload to the heart and perhaps better mimics the effect of hypertension on the human heart, cardiac hypertrophy was dependent upon poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), in part through its physical interaction with STAT3 and the resultant nuclear accumulation of phosphorylated STAT3 (14).