STAT3 and colitis: Consistent with this hypothesis, Mizoguchi and colleagues have observed in their in vitro system using colonic epithelial cells from murine colitis model that while TNFR2 upregulation is seen on day 8, upregulation of IL-6/STAT3 is observed earlier by day 4, indicating that the IL-6/STAT3 signaling cascade is activated before upregulation of TNFR2 expression (90).