In this regard, increased prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus has been detected in MF/SS patients, which can contribute to disease flares by, for example, inducing activation of STAT3 and expression of STAT3-regulated cytokines in the malignant T cells or by stimulating FOXP3 expression in malignant T-cells, whose expression and function can predict early tumor development. Here, STAT3 is linked to mycosis fungoides.