By contrast, under pathologic conditions, including cancer cachexia, muscular dystrophy, and chronic inflammatory diseases, there is a chronic (i.e., long lasting) elevation of the circulating IL-6; although Stat3-SOCS3 signaling is also activated in the target skeletal muscle tissue under these pathologic conditions, the autocrine loop of regulation in the action of the cytokine is totally lost. This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and muscular dystrophy.