STAT3 and breast cancer: On the other hand, since JAK/STAT pathway is an efficient pathway to suppress cancer cell growth and IL-6 exerts its effect on breast cancer cells via this pathway, a group of cells was treated by a combination of IL-6, sclareol, and cryptotanshinone, as the STAT3 inhibitor, and the highest increase in p53 expression was observed in this group indicative of the involvement of JAK/STAT pathway in the function of sclareol.