It was concluded that targeting STAT5-and STAT6-related signalling pathways can inhibit the proliferation of CRC cells and induce CRC cell apoptosis (Jiang et al., 2019), and Dong suggested that STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6 expression may be potential prognostic markers of hepatocellular carcinoma (Dong et al., 2019). Here, STAT5B is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.