In the present study, we found that IL-6 was not secreted into the culture medium by, and that a JAK inhibitor had no effect on STAT3 phosphorylation in, MET-activated gastric cancer cells previously shown to have an increased MET copy number (Takada et al, 2005; Smolen et al, 2006; Okamoto et al, 2010), indicating that STAT3 phosphorylation is mediated by a JAK-independent mechanism in such cells. This evidence concerns the gene MET and gastric cancer.