IL6 and gastroesophageal reflux disease: In human patients, gastric-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), Barrett’s esophagus (BE), esophageal squamous dysplasia and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have been associated with increase in inflammatory cytokine stimuli such as IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17 and TNFα4,6,9,15,48.