Neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 2 activation cooperates with PTEN deficiency through the activation of both the JAK–STAT3 and PI3K-AKT pathways to induce aggressiveness, resistance to current therapies and poor prognosis of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Yuzugullu et al., 2016). This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.