SOX2 and neoplasm: Physically, STAT3 interacts with NF in tumor and tumor-associated immune cells (Sun et al., 2021), wherein lactoglobule-EGF Factor 8 (MGF-E8)/STAT3, Sonic Hedgehog/EGFR/STAT3/Sox2 pathways, and CSC-like phenotypes were promoted by tumor-associated macrophages (Wei, 2020; Gatti et al., 2022).