Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a transcription factor that plays a key role in many cellular processes such as cell growth and cancer. However, the functions and mechanisms by which STAT3 regulates cellular processes are not fully understood. Here we describe a novel function of STAT3. We demonstrated that STAT3 plays an important role in DNA replication. Specifically, knockdown of STAT3 reduced DNA replication while activation and ectopic expression of STAT3 promoted DNA replication. We further identified the WD repeat and HMG-box DNA-binding protein 1 (WDHD1), which plays an important role in DNA replication initiation, as a novel STAT3 target gene that mediated the DNA replication function of STAT3. We showed that STAT3 bind the promoter/up regulatory region of WDHD1 gene. These studies identified a novel function of STAT3 that is mediated by its newly identified target gene WDHD1 and have important implications.

中文翻译：

---

STAT3通过打开WDHD1在DNA复制中起重要作用

信号转导和转录激活因子3（STAT3）是一种转录因子，在许多细胞过程（例如细胞生长和癌症）中起着关键作用。但是，STAT3调节细胞过程的功能和机制尚不完全清楚。在这里，我们描述了STAT3的新功能。我们证明STAT3在DNA复制中起重要作用。具体来说，敲低STAT3会减少DNA复制，而STAT3的激活和异位表达会促进DNA复制。我们进一步确定了WD重复和HMG框DNA结合蛋白1（WDHD1），在DNA复制起始中起重要作用，作为介导STAT3 DNA复制功能的新型STAT3目标基因。我们表明STAT3结合WDHD1基因的启动子/上调区域。