STAT3 and cancer: STAT3 phosphorylation followed by irradiation therapy and chemotherapy presents a challenge for cancer treatment since pSTAT3 contributes to the transcription of anti-apoptotic genes including Mcl1, Bcl2, Bcl-xL, and BIRC5 (Bromberg et al., 1999; Catlett-Falcone et al., 1999; Alas and Bonavida, 2001; Real et al., 2002; Diaz, 2006; Kujawski et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2013).