About the Cover
A close relationship exists between colonic inflammation and the development of colon cancer. Inflammation is driven by IL4's activation of the signaling protein STAT6 in immune cells. It is also known that STAT6 can be expressed in cancer cells, but its role in colon cancer is unclear. Leon-Cabrera and colleagues have found that STAT6 helps to promote survival in cancer cells in the early stages of progression from colitis to colon cancer, in addition to its role in maintaining an inflammatory environment. Read more in the Research Article by Leon-Cabrera on page 385 in this issue of Cancer Immunology Research. The histology is Alcian blue-stained diseased colon from Fig. 7F. Artwork by Lewis Long.