FIGURE 7 Schematic diagram illustrating the mechanism of inhibiting the STAT3 pathway by TA. Cytokines, growth factors and peptide hormones are able to activate the STAT3 signaling pathway. STAT3 is phosphorylated on tyrosine 705 by JAKs and non-receptor tyrosine kinases including SRC and ABL, resulting in STAT3 dimerization and nuclear translocation, followed by binding to palindromic sequences in the genome to initiate the transcription of target genes. In the process, TA directly binds to STAT3 and inhibits STAT3 (Tyr705) phosphorylation, leading to the inhibition of the STAT3 pathway.