STAT3 and neoplasm: As IL-6 possesses the unique ability to induce STAT3 target genes, which in turn produce multifaceted downstream effects that drive tumor cell growth, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and immunosuppression (Wang and Sun, 2014; Čokić et al., 2015; Johnson et al., 2018), our results highlight AREG’s indirect pro-tumorigenic effects through IL-6 stimulation.