Firstly, in a patient matched study comparing tumor tissue with mucosa we determined that: (i) expression of cytokines (IL-6 and LIF) clustered with proteases, including MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-7; (ii) correlation was generally linked to pathophysiology of the tumor with higher levels in more restricted Duke’s B tumors compared with invasive Duke’s C tumor; and (iii) MMP-1 and MMP-3 were co-regulated with previously identified downstream targets of IL-6 in colon cancer cell lines (Fig. 1). This evidence concerns the gene LIF and malignant colon neoplasm.