STAT activation in malignancies: roles in tumor progression and in the generation of antineoplastic effects of IFNs.

As signal transducers and transcription factors, signal transducer and activator of transcriptions (STATs) exert a critical role in cell growth, differentiation, and cell death. Their dysregulation that may lead to constitutive activation, no activation, or functional change, is associated with many different cancers. In this review, the contribution of STATs to cancer growth and progression is presented, and then the context in which interferon regulation of STAT activation provides a mechanism for therapeutic intervention for specific cancers is discussed.