This was further substantiated through analysis of another publicly available dataset (GSE191275), which indicates a significantly higher IL-6 expression in GC tissues (n=10) compared to non-atrophic gastritis (NAG, n=10) and intestinal metaplasia (IM, n=10) (P ≤ 0.0001) (Fig. 1B). Here, IL6 is linked to gastric cancer.