IL6 and autoimmune disease: To further explore the origin of the pro-inflammatory cytokines that were identified in the serum of MC patients, we analyzed the gene expression levels of previously identified cytokines (IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-9, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-22, IL27, TNF-α, and GM-CSF) [15], along with other 9 chemokines that were representative in autoimmune diseases.