STAT3 and inflammatory bowel disease: A recent comprehensive review of molecular pathways for IBD pathogenesis [10] supports characteristic genes in our HDNs of IBDmild and IBDsevere. The genes characteristic of the HDN of IBDmild (Jak2, Stat3, and IL23) belong to Th17-cell differentiation in [10], and the genes characteristic of the HDN of IBDsevere (IL12, IFN-gamma, IL18 and FASLG) belong to Th1-cell driven responses in [10,36].