IL6 and cancer: ,26,27,28,29 We further assessed pro-inflammatory cytokines in cancer cells infected with SP. SP significantly increased levels of eight cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-11, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1]) in H460 and H1299 cancer cells treated with SP compared with the controls (H460 and H1299 cancer cells treated with PBS) (Figure 3D).