In NF, these findings are likely to be related to its rapid growth while in IMT it could be due to the high proliferative ability induced by the myofibroblasts themselves, which secrete a variety of proangiogenic growth factors including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) (32). Here, CXCL8 is linked to inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.