Recently, Xiang et al. demonstrated that IL-17 produced by T-helper (Th17) cells and macrophages play important roles in promoting the self-renewal of ovarian CD133 (+) cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) by activating the nuclear factor (NF)-κB and the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway21. This evidence concerns the gene NFKB1 and cancer.