Notably, multivariate analysis of cytokine levels in patients with other lung diseases compared to cytokine levels in healthy individuals showed similar findings as the lung cancer group with statistically significant elevations for IL-1b (p = 0.016), IL-4 (p = 0.017), and TNF-α (p = 0.004) as well as a trend towards elevated levels for fractalkine (p = 0.067), GM-CSF (p = 0.073), IL-2 (p = 0.076), and IL-23 (p = 0.073) (not shown in table). This evidence concerns the gene IL1B and lung cancer.