STAT3 and cancer: Research has identified several key factors contributing to the development of radioresistance in cancer cells, including improved DNA damage repair capacity, alterations in the tumor microenvironment (TME), activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), regulation of autophagy, involvement of transcription factors such as nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2), and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1), as well as epitranscriptomics (8, 9).