IL6 and rheumatoid arthritis: In particular, we have demonstrated that interleukin-6 (IL-6) drives signal transduction and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3)-mediated CD4 + T cell activation during the earliest stages of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common IMID, and discriminates patients destined to develop RA from those who will develop alternative forms of inflammatory arthritis [20, 21].