In a colon cancer study, Pascual et al. measured the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in serum prior to surgery and in peritoneal fluid during surgery to establish baseline IL-6, and again at 4, 12, 24 and 48 hours and at 4 days after surgery to determine a temporal trend. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and malignant colon neoplasm.