IL-6 trans-signaling-dependent activation of STAT3 can drive cancer progression through the transcription of target genes including the cell cycle regulator cyclin D1, the proto-oncogene c-myc, transcriptional regulators such as JunB, cFos, C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ, and metabolic regulators such as mTORC1 (Hirano et al., 2000; Thiem et al., 2013). The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is cancer.