Targeting STAT1 in both cancer and insulin resistance diseases

With the rapid development of targeted therapy and our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms, drug repurposing is becoming trendy in drug development field. Drugs that display promising therapeutic effects towards multiple diseases tend to target important signaling proteins. Insulin resistance and obesity are strongly associated and both are reported to be correlated with cancer, suggesting they may be linked via some critical pathways. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) is an important transcription factor involved in the regulation of multiple cellular processes such as proliferation, survival, inflammation, and angiogenesis. The expression and activity of STAT1 is misregulated in both insulin resistance diseases and cancer. In this review, we summarize recent progress on the function and regulation of STAT1 in both cancer and insulin resistance diseases. Drugs and small molecules that can interfere with STAT1 activity or expression are also discussed.