STAT3 and rheumatoid arthritis: Moreover, an aberrant activation of STAT3 was found in intestinal T cells of Crohn's disease patients compared to healthy donors (73); the expression of IRF-4 was significantly increased in inflammatory cells of psoriasis patients than that in healthy controls (74); HIF-1α was found strongly expressed by immune cells in the intimal layer of the synovium in rheumatoid arthritis patients (75).