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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice
07:37

An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice

Published on: June 6, 2025

Interleukin-6 and rheumatic diseases

Peter E Lipsky1

  • 1Autoimmunity Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. lipskyp@mail.nih.gov

Arthritis Research & Therapy
|August 11, 2006
PubMed

IL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in both the initiation and the maintenance of the inflammatory and immunologic responses in certain autoimmune diseases. Blocking of these two complementary functions of IL-6 may confer additive, or even unique, benefits to the patient. The levels of both IL-6 and its soluble receptor (sIL-6Ralpha) are elevated to various degrees in many rheumatic diseases. IL-6 blockade has been shown to be beneficial both in experimental models and in human disease, and inhibition of IL-6 signaling with a molecule such as tocilizumab could prevent or reverse some of the complications typically associated with rheumatic diseases.

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