Although the combination of APG-1252-M1 and gemcitabine exhibited significant anticancer activity in the empty vector group, involving a reduced number of tumor colonies and cell growth, and increased tumor apoptosis, we observed no significant difference compared with that in the group overexpressing STAT3 (Fig. 6b–f; Supplementary Fig. 6b–e). The gene discussed is STAT3; the disease is neoplasm.