IL6 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Upon transient transfection of siRNA targeting SPTBN1 in HCC cell lines, compared with cell lines treated with control siRNA, QRT-PCR analysis showed that IL-1α and IL-1β in addition to IL-6 mRNA levels were significantly increased 2-6 fold in PLC/PRF/5 (P < 0.01 for IL-1α gene; P < 0.05 for IL-1β and IL-6 genes) and 2-4 fold in SNU-449 cells (P < 0.01 for IL-1α and IL-6 genes; P < 0.05 for IL-1β gene) (Figure 1A).