NPC-derived sEVs significantly induce macrophages to produce the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), which activates signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) to promote malignant behavior of NPC cells (Han et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2022), such as immune escape, angiogenesis, and metastasis (Vader et al., 2014). The gene discussed is STAT3; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.