STAT3 and cancer: Activation of mTOR downstream effectors by p38 MAPK pathway (18), the effect of STAT3 activation on Ras and PI3K/Akt pathway (19), and JAK2 activation on PI3K and ERK pathways (20, 21) are examples of these crosstalks, which could be an important factor in the ability of cancer cells to “switch” to an alternative pathway for survival.