Consistent with the DC maturation results, tumour-cell debris after HMME/R837@Lip-augmented SDT could act as an antigen to trigger the highest level of DC-secreted immune cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF-α (Fig. 3f, g), which further demonstrated that the immune adjuvant R837 could enhance the immune response. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and neoplasm.