IL6 and Familial prostate cancer: However, the reported actions of IL-6 in conferring malignant phenotype to prostate cancer cells remain controversial, with some studies showing positive findings (Okamoto et al, 1997; Hobisch et al, 1998; Lou et al, 2000; Lin et al, 2001; Ueda et al, 2002a, 2002b; Lee et al, 2003), and others showing negative findings (Mori et al, 1999; Deeble et al, 2001; Hobisch et al, 2001; Jia et al, 2004; Lee et al, 2007).