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

Smoking and interleukin-6 are important factors in driving inflammation. This study assessed the relationship between smoking, interleukin-6 genotype, physical fitness, and peripheral blood count in healthy young men. For this interleukin-6 promoter polymorphism -174 genotype-phenotype association study 1,929 healthy German male aviators recruited at the central German Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine were stratified by smoking habits. Cardiovascular fitness was expressed as maximal physical working capacity (PWCmax) in watts per kilogram body weight as assessed by maximal exercise testing by cycle ergometry up to physical exhaustion. Smokers had higher leukocyte and lymphocyte counts than nonsmokers and lower PWCmax. In the overall study population the C allele of the interleukin-6 polymorphism was weakly associated with elevated leukocytes and lymphocytes; in nonsmokers the interleukin-6 polymorphism was not associated with altered phenotypes, but in smokers the interleukin-6 C allele was associated with higher leukocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes and with lower PWCmax. Smoking is thus associated with elevated leukocytes and lymphocytes and with reduced physical fitness. Gene carriers with the interleukin-6 C allele may suffer particularly from cigarette smoking.
 ...
PMID:The interleukin-6 promoter polymorphism is associated with elevated leukocyte, lymphocyte, and monocyte counts and reduced physical fitness in young healthy smokers. 1292 84

A 50-year-old male patient demonstrated an existing left proptosis for several weeks. The patient was suffering from physical exhaustion and had lost considerable weight. Furthermore, we observed greatly enlarged parotid and submandibular glands on both sides. MRI of the neck showed multiple, sharply circumscribed lesions in the major salivary glands and both lacrimal glands as well as in the orbit. Initially we suspected Heerfordt's syndrome, a manifestation of sarcoidosis, but laboratory diagnosis could not reveal a pathological erythrocyte sedimentation rate or an increased ACE titer. After exploratory excision from the right submandibular gland, histological examination revealed Castleman's disease. Therefore, we initiated an immunomodulatory therapy with interleukin-6 receptor antagonists.Castleman's disease is one of the very rare, benign, lymphoproliferative processes that have a tendency to turn malignant. Isolated findings of Castleman's disease should be completely resected. There are no clear treatment strategies for multiple localizations of Castleman's disease. The approaches range from systemic glucocorticoid therapy with chemotherapy to immunomodulatory treatment. In contrast to isolated findings, the prognosis for multicentric occurrence is unfavorable.
 ...
PMID:[Castleman's disease : a rare differential diagnosis for Heerfordt's syndrome]. 2253 80