Consistent with the reported effect of IL-6 on MUC1 overexpression in breast and lung cancer cells,22, 33 exposure of AsPC-1 cells to IL-6 led to parallel increases in STAT3 phosphorylation and the expression of MUC1-C, and, to a lesser extent, ILK (Figure 1b). The gene discussed is ILK; the disease is lung cancer.