We identified tumor-derived IL1β as the prominent cytokine responsible for induction of inflammatory response in MSCs and signaling via focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and, to lesser extent, mitogen activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK), as key positive regulators of an inflammatory response, while transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signaling was found to inhibit the response of MSCs to tumor CM. Here, WNK2 is linked to neoplasm.