NLRP12 and neoplasm: Secondly, NLRP12 downregulates hepatocyte-specific expression of cytokines such as IL-6 and TNFα which promote proliferation and tumor growth, and chemokines CXCL1, CXCL2 and CCL2, which enhance inflammatory cell infiltration and thereby augment inflammation in the tumor milieu (Kamata et al., 2005; Maeda et al., 2005; Sakurai et al., 2008).