Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 13, 2025

Generation of a Mouse Spontaneous Autoimmune Thyroiditis Model
Published on: March 17, 2023
Trans-signaling through the agonistic sIL-6R and an imbalanced inflammatory response are associated with increased
Zulvikar Syambani Ulhaq1, Zulkarnain Zulkarnain2, Lola Ayu Istifiani3
1Research Center for Pre-clinical and Clinical Medicine, National Research and Innovation Agency Republic of Indonesia, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia.
Background:
Excessive inflammatory cytokines are known to impact immune response and autoimmunity. In this study, we quantified the level of interleukin (IL)-6, soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R), glycoprotein 130 (sgp130) and IL-10 to determine their involvement in the pathogenesis of Graves' disease (GD), in addition to the assessment serum cytokines IL-6, sIL-6R, sgp130, and IL-10 performance as biomarkers for the diagnosis of GD.
Methods:
A total of 20 patients with GD and 21 healthy individuals from the Indonesian population were enrolled. The serum concentrations of the selected cytokines were quantified using the ELISA method. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and TSH receptor antibody (TSHR-Ab) were also evaluated. Comparative analysis was performed in addition to the assessment of the diagnostic performance of cytokines using receiver-operating-curve (ROC) analysis. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between 2 quantitative variables.
Results:
Patients with GD had a higher IL-6, sIL-6R, and IL-6/IL-10 ratio but a lower sgp130/sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio vs controls. The ROC curve analysis showed that the sgp130/sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio exhibited better performance than IL-6, sIL-6R, and IL-6/IL-10 ratio in diagnosing GD. In addition, serum levels of IL-6, sIL-6, and IL-10 were associated with thyroid parameters, including TSHR-antibody (Ab) levels.
Conclusion:
IL-6 trans-signaling and imbalance of inflammatory response could be prominent factors in the pathogenesis of GD.
Related Concept Videos
TGF - β Signaling Pathway
The JAK-STAT Signaling Pathway
Autoimmune Disorders
Concept and Mechanism of Autoimmune Diseases
The immune...
Assembly of Signaling Complexes
Interaction domains in cell signaling
Interaction domains recognize exposed features of their binding partners containing post-translationally modified sequences,...
Signal Transduction: Overview
Typically, signal transduction involves three...
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...

