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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

The Influence of Liver Resection on Intrahepatic Tumor Growth
Published on: April 9, 2016
IL-6 pathway in the liver: From physiopathology to therapy
Dirk Schmidt-Arras1, Stefan Rose-John1
1Institute of Biochemistry, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40, Kiel, Germany.
Abstract:
Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic four-helix-bundle cytokine that exerts multiple functions in the body. In the liver, IL-6 is an important inducer of the acute phase response and infection defense. IL-6 is furthermore crucial for hepatocyte homeostasis and is a potent hepatocyte mitogen. It is not only implicated in liver regeneration, but also in metabolic function of the liver. However, persistent activation of the IL-6 signaling pathway is detrimental to the liver and might ultimately result in the development of liver tumors. On target cells IL-6 can bind to the signal transducing subunit gp130 either in complex with the membrane-bound or with the soluble IL-6 receptor to induce intracellular signaling. In this review we describe how these different pathways are involved in the physiology and pathophyiology of the liver. We furthermore discuss how IL-6 pathways can be selectively inhibited and therapeutically exploited for the treatment of liver pathologies.
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