STAT3 is a protein that transduces extracellular signals that control many cellular functions important for growth and survival. Extracellular receptors cause STAT3 to be phosphorylated allowing STAT3 to form a homodimer allowing it to enter the nucleus and affect transcription. Possibly due to playing a key role in growth and survival, Stat3 hyperactivation is seen in roughly 70% of cancers. To better understand how STAT3 affects transcription we have designed DNA probes using the STAT3 binding sequence to measure STAT3 DNA binding activity. These probes can be either bound to biotin to perform pulldown assays or to fluorophores to create a real-time in cell reporter of STAT3 activation. Here we present our progress in development and future aims for STAT3 specific probes.
