TGFB1 and neoplasm: While studies in other systems have also demonstrated a critical role of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in the development of human TH17 [27, 28], Kuang and his colleagues failed to find a correlation between the expression of this cytokine and TH17 cell density, implicating that the role of TGF-β in expanding TH17 cells remains to be elucidated in the local tumor environment of HCC.