There was no obvious correlation between NMU mRNA expression and the expression of proinflammatory cytokine mRNA in HCC peri- and intra-tumor tissue: IL-6 (peri-tumor: r = 0.3839, p = 0.2438), IL-8 (peri-tumor: r = − 0.05896, p = 0.8556, intra-tumor: r = − 0.03412, p = 0.9162), and TNF-α (peri-tumor: r = − 0.2255, p = 0.5310, intra-tumor: r = 0.5396, p = 0.0702) (Fig. 4g-l). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and hepatocellular carcinoma.