IL6 and neoplasm: The tumor spheroids pre-treated with RV showed reduced levels of ERK1/2 expression (about 50% less than in the control) and increased levels of p38 and p21 (about 4-fold and 8-fold, respectively), and this same pattern remained essentially unchanged in the spheroids that were challenged from day 5 to day 10 with IL-6, whether RV was removed or still present (Figure 6C).