SAGE-Seq gene expression profiles of Hs578T, MCF7, and SUM159PT cells treated with STAT3 or non-targeting siRNAs, DMSO, or CXCR2, PTGIS, HAS1, PFKFB3, JAK, or NQO1 inhibitor

To investigate potential links between Stat3 transcriptional activity and other signaling pathways in breast cancer, we determined the gene expression profiles of three breast cancer cell lines treated with JAK, PTGIS, PFKFB3, CXCR2, HAS1, or NQO1 inhibitor (all of which decreased Stat3 transcriptional activity in Hs 578T cells except for the NQO1 inhibitor), inhibitor treatment vehicle alone (DMSO), STAT3 siRNAs, or non-targeting siRNAs. Using the resulting data, we identified a gene signature that was significantly regulated by STAT3 siRNAs and similarly affected by the JAK and at least 3 other inhibitors (or by 4 other inhibitors) but not by the NQO1 inhibitor in Hs 578T cells that was enriched in genes involved in development and correlated with shorter distant metastasis-free survival in primary lymph-node-negative invasive breast tumors. These results emphasize the central importance of Stat3 in CD44+/CD24- stem-cell-like breast cancer cells.