IL6 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Indeed, IL-6 or gp130 knockout mice developed significantly less tumors in the diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC model and prolonged survival [63, 64], and we found that the HCC progenitors HcPCs not only autocrined IL-6, but also with promoted responses to IL-6, for their malignant progression to established HCC [65, 66].