STAT3 and infectious otitis media: Considering that STAT3 was a transcription factor, we also detected its mRNA level and found that STAT3 mRNA expression was increased in AOM/DSS treated mice, but decreased in α-hederin group (Fig. 4B), which was consistent with protein level results (Fig. 4A), indicating that α-hederin inhibited STAT3 transcriptional and translational activities.