During the course of our efforts toward the development of tumor vaccines for NPC by transfer of the IFN-γ gene to NPC cell lines via a retroviral vector, we noted that substantial changes occurred in the levels of IL-6 and one of its receptor subunits, gp80, commonly referred to as IL-6Rα, released by NPC cell lines after IFN-γ transduction. The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.