STAT3 and breast cancer: Previous studies on the role of cytokines in BC progression have shown that IL-6 binding to its receptor (IL-6R) induces the phosphorylation of signal transducer and transcription activator 3 (STAT3), which undergoes dimerisation and translocation to the nucleus to regulate transcription EMT genes, including E-cadherin, phospho-ß-catenin and phospho-GSK3ß, N-cadherin, and vimentin.