In hepatocellular carcinoma, autophagy is required for transforming growth factor-β (TFG-β)-induced EMT (Li et al. 2013), as well as for the production of pro-invasive cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and Wnt family member 5A (WNT5A) during invasion of the RAS-transformed cancer cell line (Lock et al. 2014). Here, IL6 is linked to cancer.