A response of osteocytes to IL-11 has not been reported previously, but IL-11 stimulates STAT3 phosphorylation in primary calvarial osteoblasts (Romas et al., 1996), and we have observed downregulation of sclerostin by IL-11 in an osteosarcoma-derived cell line (UMR106-01, Patricia W.M. Ho, unpublished data). This evidence concerns the gene SOST and osteosarcoma.