STAT3 and cancer: We next evaluated the effect of HLA-G overexpression on downstream effectors of STAT3 [phospho(p)-STAT3 (Tyr705)], ERK (p-ERK1/2 Thr202/Tyr204), and AKT [p-AKT (Ser473)] signaling cascades since these pathways are implicated in the regulation/maintenance of normal/cancer stem cells (35, –37) and BM establishment (38, –40) and are also demonstrated in other studies to be activated by membrane HLA-G (33, 41).