STAT3 and cancer: When expressed by cancer-associated cells such as TAMs within the TME, they specifically activate signaling pathways that mediate tumor cell proliferation and metastasis [45,46,47] in addition to recruiting cells associated with cancer-increasing tumor malignancy [10] such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), the 3-kinase phosphoinositide (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) [47,48], the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT3) [46], and the nuclear kappa B (NF-κB) [45].