STAT6 and neoplasm: Consistent with our findings, several reports have shown that hypoxia downregulates a number of tumor suppressor genes, including mutL homolog 1 (MLH1), Runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) and von Hippel–Lindau tumor suppressor (pVHL), through epigenetic mechanisms [19, 23, 29], supporting a potential tumor suppressor function of STAT6.