IL6 and infection: Inflammation and infection have been shown to transcriptionally induce hepcidin expression mainly through interleukin 6 (IL-6), which activates the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK/STAT3) signaling (Nemeth et al., 2003; Maliken, Nelson & Kowdley, 2011; Rodriguez et al., 2014).