Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P05231 (interleukin-6)
 23,907 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

1. This study investigates whether previously documented effects of interleukin-4 in down-regulating pro-inflammatory cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy individuals would be reproducible in PBMCs isolated from patients with multiple organ failure (acute disease model) and gastrointestinal cancer (chronic disease model). The effects of interleukin-4 on the ability of PBMC supernatants to elicit an acute phase protein response from isolated human hepatocytes were also studied. 2. Incubation of PBMCs with interleukin-4 significantly reduced both spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide-induced production of tumour necrosis factor and lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin-6 production, demonstrating that the PBMCs from patients with acute and chronic disease are not refractory to the effects of interleukin-4. The effects of interleukin-4 on the ability of PBMCs from the groups studied to elicit an acute phase response were complex and varied both between patient groups and individual acute phase proteins. Overall, interleukin-4 reduced the potential of PBMCs to stimulate production of the positive acute phase proteins C-reactive protein, alpha1-antichymotrypsin and alpha1-acid glycoprotein.3. This work emphasizes the pleiotropic nature of cytokines and the complex regulatory mechanisms which exist. The study illustrates the difficulties in devising in vivo intervention strategies using cytokines such as interleukin-4.
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PMID:Effect of interleukin-4 on pro-inflammatory cytokine production and the acute phase response in healthy individuals and in patients with cancer or multiple organ failure. 973 Aug 55

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that has been shown to regulate immune defense mechanisms and hematopoiesis. In addition, IL-6 may also be involved in malignant transformation and tumor progression. A poor prognosis in patients with multiple myeloma, renal cell carcinoma, ovarian cancer, or prostate cancer has been associated consistently with elevated IL-6 serum levels. The aim of this study was, therefore, to assess IL-6 serum levels in 68 advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients and to correlate them with prognosis. IL-6 serum levels were found to be significantly elevated in cancer patients with respect to controls. Moreover, patients with disseminated cancer displayed significantly higher IL-6 serum levels than patients without apparent metastases. On univariate analysis, both overall survival (OS) and time to disease progression (TTP) were shown to be affected by IL-6 serum levels. However, multivariate analysis failed to demonstrate an independent prognostic significance for IL-6 serum levels while confirming the role of previously established variables, such as performance status, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) serum levels, and distant metastases. In conclusion, this study showed that IL-6 serum levels were elevated in advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients and correlated with both OS and TTP. However, they were shown not to be an independent prognostic factor.
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PMID:Interleukin-6 serum level correlates with survival in advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients but is not an independent prognostic indicator. 1117 80

This study investigated the ability of recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2) to modulate the ability of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to stimulate an acute phase protein response in isolated human hepatocytes. The effect of IL-2 on the production of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by PBMCs isolated from patients with gastrointestinal cancer, multiple organ failure, and healthy controls was also studied. The ability of supernatants from IL-2-treated PBMCs to elicit an acute phase response in hepatocytes was then investigated. IL-2 had no effect on IL-6 or TNF production by PBMCs isolated from any group in the presence or absence of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Despite this, preincubation of PBMCs with IL-2 significantly reduced the potential of LPS-stimulated PBMC supernatants to stimulate production of alpha1 antichymotrypsin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, and C-reactive protein by hepatocytes. These observations were not due to a direct effect of IL-2 on hepatocyte acute phase protein production. These findings suggest that in this model IL-2 may modulate PBMC-induced acute phase protein production through an IL-6 and TNF-independent pathway.
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PMID:Effect of interleukin-2 on peripheral blood mononuclear cell cytokine production and the hepatic acute phase protein response. 1216 78

Recent studies have suggested that circulating concentrations of leptin might play a role in cancer cachexia. In the first part of the study, we compared circulating concentrations of free and total leptin, percent fat mass, and the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), together with appetite score, in age- and gender-matched healthy controls (n = 11) and advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients (n = 26). In the second part of the study, the same measurements were repeated before and after megestrol acetate treatment of weight-losing gastrointestinal cancer patients (n = 10). Body mass index and percent fat mass were significantly lower (P < 0.05) and IL-6 and CRP were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in cancer patients than in controls. There was no difference in the percentage of leptin bound in the circulation between controls and cancer patients. Circulating "free" leptin concentrations correlated with percent fat mass in controls (r = 0.745, P = 0.008) and cancer patients (r = 0.600, P = 0.001). In cancer patients, circulating leptin concentrations, either free or total, were not correlated with IL-6 or CRP concentrations. When adjusted for fat mass, the circulating concentrations of free and total leptin were significantly lower in the cancer patients (P < 0.01). Megestrol acetate treatment significantly increased circulating free and total leptin concentrations in the cancer patients (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between the change in circulating concentrations of free and total leptin and the change in percent fat mass (r = 0.685, P < 0.05 and r = 0.661, P < 0.05, respectively). The results of the present study indicate that the proportions of free and bound leptin in the circulation do not differ between normal subjects and patients with gastrointestinal cancer and in both groups are related to fat mass. Furthermore, the increase in circulating leptin concentrations after megestrol acetate treatment is not associated with any alteration in leptin binding.
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PMID:Circulating concentrations of "free" leptin in relation to fat mass and appetite in gastrointestinal cancer patients. 1273 62