Hepcidin (a liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide) was found to be a major regulator of iron metabolism, and its expression was associated with IL-6 signal transduction and transcriptional activator STAT3 signaling pathways, suggesting that hepcidin could be directly targeted using a neutralizing antibody approach to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis 106-108 (Figure 4c). This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and neoplasm.