IL6 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Next, we grouped them into cytokines associated with pre-cancer or the initiation stage of HCC (IL-6, TGF-β, MCP-1, FGF2, IL-2, IL-8, IL-12p40, IL-12p70, IL-18, IP-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ), the early stage of HCC (OPN, GDF-15, RANTES, and VEGFA), and the advanced stage of HCC (IL-10, and MIP-3).