Using a human hepatocyte cell line, HepG2 cells, the authors further explored the hypothesis that PV-associated inflammation leads to hepcidin upregulation, demonstrating that the increased hepcidin expression was induced by plasma from PV patients but not plasma from normal controls and was normalized by blocking IL-6 binding to its receptor (Bennett et al., 2023). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and acquired polycythemia vera.