title: STAT3: An Anti-Invasive Factor in Colorectal Cancer?
abstract: Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) is activated in a majority of cancers, and promotes tumorigenesis and even metastasis through transcriptional activation of its target genes. Recently, we discovered that STAT3 suppresses epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and thus metastasis in a mouse model of colorectal cancer (CRC), while it did not affect the overall tumor burden. Furthermore, we found that STAT3 in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) suppresses EMT by regulating stability of an EMT inducer, SNAI-1 (Snail-1). Here, STAT3 functions as an adaptor rather than a transcription factor in the post-translational modification of SNAI-1. In this review, we discuss the unexpected and contradictory role of STAT3 in metastasis of CRC and its clinical implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. MC 0663, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. pdejong@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Petrus Rudolf
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dankook University College of Medicine, 16-5 Anseo-dong, Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do 330-715, Korea. jihunmo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ji-Hun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. MC 0663, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. arh5ru@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Alexandra R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. MC 0663, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. j142lee@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Jongdae
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. MC 0663, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. eraz@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raz