Our findings were consistent with a significant progressive increase of VEGF (+122%; P < .01 +444%; P < .001 and 688%; P < .001) and IL‐6 secretion (+127%; P < .01 +536%; P < .001 and +900%; P < .001) (Figure 1C) and AQP4 up‐regulation (+301%; P < .01; +653; P < .001 and 1306%; P < .001) (Figure 1A,B) in peritumoral, UC and tumour specimens, respectively, vs controls. Here, IL6 is linked to neoplasm.