STAT3 and neoplasm: The expression of miR-21 was higher in tumor tissue than in adjacent normal tissue of 156 CRC patients by TaqMan MicroRNA assays.267 It is reported that transglutaminase 2 (TG2) expression was observed in CRC primary tumors but lost in liver metastases and TG2 inhibited by miR-19 could affect the invasive ability of CRC cells.268 Moreover, Zhang et al.147 demonstrated that the overexpression of PRL-3 in CRC cells induced the expression of miR-21, miR-17 and miR-19a by activating signal transducer and STAT3.