Expression of activated signal transducer and activator Stat3 as a predictor of poor prognosis in cervical cancer

Evaluation of: Takemoto S, Ushijima K, Kawano K et al. Expression of activated signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 predicts poor prognosis in cervical squamous-cell carcinoma. Br. J. Cancer 101(6), 967-972 (2009). Stat3 is activated through phosphorylation (p-Stat3), whereupon it enhances the transcription of several molecules involved in cell survival and proliferation. The constitutive activation of Stat3 has been reported in various types of malignancies, and its expression has been shown to indicate a poor prognosis. However, the clinical significance of Stat3 expression in cervical cancer has seldom been evaluated. Using immunohistochemical methods, Takemoto et al. investigated the association between p-Stat3 expression and clinicopathological variables. The expression of p-Stat3 was significantly correlated with stage, tumor size, lymph vascular space invasion and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, p-Stat3 expression was statistically indicative of a poor prognosis. These data demonstrate the clinical significance of p-Stat3 expression. Continued studies of Stat3 function may help in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for cervical cancer.