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Query: UNIPROT:P05231 (interleukin-6)
 23,907 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cytokines are immunoregulatory molecules that are important mediators of the host response to stress and infection. Infants and children undergoing major surgery are particularly at risk of developing sepsis and have altered metabolic responses to surgical stress compared to adults. We have investigated the temporal sequence of cytokine responses in six infants (mean age, 11 +/- 7.5 months) undergoing pull-through operation for Hirschsprung's disease and correlated them with hemodynamic and biochemical parameters. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured by ELISA preoperatively, intraoperatively (hourly), and 24 and 48 hours postoperatively. IL-6 levels increased significantly in all cases within 2 hours of commencement of the operation (P less than .01) and were maximal 24 hours postoperatively. No significant changes in IL-1 beta levels (mean range, 70 to 110 pg/mL) were seen in these patients. TNF levels were undetectable (less than 20 pg/mL) throughout the study. Cortisol levels were increased in all patients during operation. Serum C-reactive protein levels were first detected 24 hours postoperatively and continued to increase 48 hours postoperatively. Hemodynamically, heart rate increased during the first 3 hours of operation and correlated with increase in IL-6 levels. Blood pressure and temperature changes did not correlate with cytokine levels. This study identifies IL-6 as the earliest detectable cytokine response associated with major surgery in infants. It also suggests that IL-6 can be unregulated, independently of other cytokines, in response to surgical stress.
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PMID:Early induction of IL-6 in infants undergoing major abdominal surgery. 140 30

Inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) exhibit local autocrine and paracrine effects as well as distant systemic effects on target cells. Human Kupffer cells, the fixed tissue macrophages of the liver, may modulate immune and endocrine function in early fetal development. We purified and cultured human fetal Kupffer cells to investigate the production of the cytokine, IL-6. Fetal Kupffer cells treated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) produced IL-6 in a dose-dependent fashion with maximal secretion (1000 pg per 10(6) cells) observed within 12 h using 10 micrograms of LPS/ml. Cortisol and dexamethasone, but not oestrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, dramatically suppressed the LPS-stimulated secretion of IL-6 by fetal Kupffer cells. None of the steroids tested altered basal production or enhanced the LPS-stimulated production of IL-6 by fetal Kupffer cells. The inhibition of glucocorticoids could be reversed by the addition of RU 486, indicating that this effect was mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor. These results demonstrate that the production of IL-6 by fetal hepatic macrophages can be activated by LPS and suppressed by glucocorticoids. These studies suggest that Kupffer cells express mature macrophage function in early gestation and would be capable of regulatory roles in the growth and development of the fetus.
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PMID:Regulation of interleukin-6 production in human fetal Kupffer cells. 203 Nov 50

Very primitive human hematopoietic progenitor cells are identified indirectly by their ability to give rise to clonogenic progenitors in the presence of either human or murine stromal cells. These long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC) assays are usually performed in the presence of hydrocortisone based on the initial observation that hydrocortisone was required for prolonged hematopoiesis in standard long-term bone marrow cultures. In this report, we investigated the role of hydrocortisone in LTC-IC assays initiated with CD34++/CD38- cells seeded onto either human bone marrow LTC-derived adherent cells or a murine marrow-derived stromal cell line, MS-5. It was found that weekly addition of hydrocortisone to the cultures reduced the frequency of LTC-IC (from 1/5 to 1/20) calculated from limiting dilution experiments and also reduced fivefold to 10-fold the number of their progeny clonogenic cells detected after 4 to 5 weeks. In contrast, the frequency and differentiative potential of CD34++/CD38- grown in the presence of human marrow feeders was unaltered by the addition of glucocorticoids. Data are consistent with the hypothesis that hydrocortisone inhibited LTC-IC differentiation by downregulating the expression of a synergistic factor produced by MS-5 cells. (1) In the absence of hydrocortisone, the number of clonogenic progenitors generated by LTC-IC was much higher in cultures seeded on MS-5 than in cultures seeded on human marrow adherent cells, which was also true when cytokines were added to the cocultures. However, based on the phenotype of the colonies, progenitors produced in MS-5 cocultures were more mature than those generated on human marrow adherent cells. (2) Hydrocortisone counteracted the stimulatory effect of recombinant human cytokines (interleukin-3, interleukin-6, and steel factor) in assays performed on MS-5 but not on human marrow feeders. (3) Hydrocortisone led to a 50% decrease in the numbers of colony-forming units-granulocyte-macrophage found in methycellulose colony assays of CD34++/CD38- cells performed in the presence of MS-5 cells. Taken together, our results indicate that hydrocortisone acts differently on a murine stromal cell line and on marrow-derived human stromal cells and may suppress the expression by MS-5 cells of an activity selectively promoting amplification of clonogenic cells derived from primitive LTC-IC.
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PMID:Hydrocortisone differentially affects the ability of murine stromal cells and human marrow-derived adherent cells to promote the differentiation of CD34++/CD38- long-term culture-initiating cells. 752 66

Acute aerobic exercise has been shown to elicit physiological changes characteristic of the acute phase response (APR), a nonspecific host defense response. Regular evocation of these changes may prime the immune system to improve resistance to disease. Because food deprivation is associated with an impaired APR, food restriction may prevent these beneficial changes. We tested the hypotheses that voluntary exercise elicits an APR and that food restriction modifies this response in four groups of hamsters: ad libitum-fed sedentary, ad libitum-fed exercised, food-restricted sedentary, and food-restricted exercised. Five variables altered during an APR were examined: core temperature, serum iron, serum interleukin-6, serum amyloid A, and serum glucocorticoids measured by biotelemetry, colorimetric analysis, B-9 cell growth assay, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and radioimmunoassay, respectively. Blood was drawn during the hamsters' inactive period after 19-20 days of access to running wheels. Resting core temperature was elevated by exercise and depressed by food restriction (P < 0.01). Iron was depressed by food restriction (P < 0.01). Cortisol, but not corticosterone, was elevated by food restriction (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences among groups in interleukin-6 (P > 0.49) or serum amyloid A (P > 0.29). We conclude that there is little evidence that voluntary exercise or exercise combined with food restriction causes an APR in hamsters.
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PMID:Effect of exercise and food restriction on selected markers of the acute phase response in hamsters. 775 13

A recent study in humans, animal studies, and in vitro data have suggested that interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulates the secretory activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. In a phase II study, one female and six male patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma received IL-6 to evaluate a possible antitumor effect of IL-6. This offered the possibility of investigating the influence of IL-6 on the HPA axis in man. The subjects were studied 1 day before, on day 1, and on day 21 of IL-6 therapy (150 micrograms administered sc every day at 0900 h). Blood samples were taken at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1600, and 2000 h the day before, on day 1 of IL-6 therapy, 24 h after the first IL-6 injection, and on day 21 of IL-6 treatment. Plasma ACTH and cortisol levels promptly followed the rise of IL-6, which peaked 4 h after administration. They were significantly (P < 0.05) higher at 1100 and 1300 h on day 1 of IL-6 therapy compared with the corresponding plasma levels the day before IL-6 treatment. Cortisol concentrations remained significantly increased at 1600 and 2000 h after IL-6 administration. Twenty-four hours after the first IL-6 administration, IL-6, ACTH, and cortisol levels had reached preinjection values. Although plasma cortisol levels were similar on days 1 and 21, ACTH levels were lower on day 21 (than on day 1), but significantly elevated at 1100 h compared with levels on the day before the first IL-6 injection. Results confirming the very recent data of another study demonstrate a stimulating effect of IL-6 on the HPA axis in man. They support the notion that IL-6 is one of the cytokines involved in the interaction between the immune system and the HPA axis.
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PMID:Interleukin-6 stimulates the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in man. 796 96

We recently demonstrated that sc administered interleukin-6 (IL-6) strongly stimulates the human hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, with mild toxicity and no hypotensive effects. In this study, we evaluated the response of the human HPA axis to escalating iv doses of recombinant IL-6 in six patients with cancer and good performance status who received daily, every 8 h, three equal doses of 0.3-30 micrograms/kg IL-6. The plasma levels of IL-6 assayed by a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay during the 4 h following the first IL-6 injection were elevated for 2-4 h, proportionally to the amount of injected IL-6. Administration of the cytokine was followed by marked elevations of plasma ACTH (53.0-98.6 pmol/L) and cortisol (824.9-1729.9 nmol/L) independently of the IL-6 dose administered, suggesting that the doses employed were at the top of the dose-response curve for these hormones. Interestingly, plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels were also elevated during the 2 h after IL-6 injection in all patients who received a dose of 3 micrograms/kg or more, suggesting that IL-6 activated the magnocellular AVP-secreting neurons and that it might be involved in the syndrome of inappropriate AVP secretion. Cortisol elevations with peaks similar to those observed after the first injection of IL-6 were also detected in plasma sampled every 2 h after the second and third injections, suggesting that there was no rapid tachyphylaxis in response to IL-6 administration. Plasma IL-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations, assayed by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays during the 4 h after the first IL-6 injection, were either within the normal range or undetectable, confirming in vitro observations that IL-6 does not stimulate IL-1 beta or tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion and suggesting that it exerts its effect on the HPA axis and AVP secretion independently of them. We conclude that IL-6 is a potent stimulator of the human HPA axis and a secretagogue of magnocellular AVP secretion, which might be employed as a challenge test of the axis and the magnocellular AVP neuron.
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PMID:Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation and stimulation of systemic vasopressin secretion by recombinant interleukin-6 in humans: potential implications for the syndrome of inappropriate vasopressin secretion. 796 99

The purpose of the present study was to characterize the acute changes in the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in humans after administration of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS). Escherichia coli LPS (4 ng/kg) was injected intravenously into healthy adults, and serial blood samples were collected for the next 5 h; subjects injected with saline served as time-matched controls. LPS administration resulted in a gradual decrease in the total extractable IGF-I concentration, which was reduced by approximately 20% over the final 2 h of the experiment; levels of free IGF-I were not significantly altered. LPS also produced a marked but transient elevation in growth hormone (GH) concentration. IGF-binding protein (BP)-1 levels were elevated more than fivefold 2 h after LPS injection, and thereafter levels gradually returned toward baseline. IGFBP-2 concentration also increased after LPS injection, but the maximal increase (approximately 50% above basal) was observed during the final 2 h of the protocol. In contrast, IGFBP-3 levels did not vary over the period examined in response to LPS, and there was no apparent increase in number of BP-3 proteolytic fragments. Cortisol levels were increased early and remained two- to threefold above baseline throughout the protocol. No significant alterations in serum concentration of glucose or insulin were noted. LPS also produced an early elevation in tumor necrosis factor and a later increase in interleukin-6. These data indicate that the acute changes in the GH-IGF axis in humans in response to LPS are comparable with those observed in humans in other traumatic conditions and in animal models of endotoxemia and infection.
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PMID:Acute alterations in growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor axis in humans injected with endotoxin. 924 74

The emerging view is that reduced feed intake, lean muscle accretion, and growth in immunologically challenged pigs is the result of increased cytokine activity, but this has not been directly tested. To begin addressing this issue, 72 crossbred barrows and gilts (11.55 +/- .19 kg BW) were not fed for 12 h and then injected i.p. with 0, .5, or 5 micrograms/kg of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Blood was collected by jugular puncture at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 h after injection. Plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cortisol, plasma urea nitrogen (PUN), NEFA, and triglycerides were determined. Immunological stress was induced by LPS as indicated by increased secretion of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and cortisol. In pigs receiving 5 micrograms/kg of LPS, plasma TNF-alpha was increased 10-fold at 2 h after injection and was still elevated (P < .01) at 4 h. In these same pigs, plasma concentration of IL-6 was increased at 2 h and peaked at 4 h with levels exceeding baseline values by 200-fold (P < .01). Cortisol was elevated at 2, 4, and 8 h after injection (P < .01). The increased secretion of cytokines and cortisol in pigs injected with 5 micrograms/kg of LPS was followed by an increase in protein degradation, as evidenced by PUN values that were increased two- and threefold at 8 and 12 h after injection, respectively. However, unlike previous reports in laboratory animal species, plasma glucose, NEFA, and triglycerides were not altered by LPS. Nonetheless, as the period of feed deprivation progressed from 12 to 36 h, plasma NEFA and triglycerides increased (P < .05) and plasma glucose tended to decrease. We believe that immunological challenge induces cytokine synthesis and secretion in swine which, in turn, may induce protein catabolism.
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PMID:Time course of increased plasma cytokines, cortisol, and urea nitrogen in pigs following intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide. 925 May 11

Leptin, a 16-kDa protein secreted from white adipocytes, has been implicated in the regulation of food intake, energy expenditure, and whole-body energy balance in rodents and humans. The gene encoding leptin was identified by positional cloning and is the mutation leading to the profound obese phenotype of the ob/ob mouse. Exogenous administration of leptin to ob/ob mice leads to a significant improvement in reproductive and endocrine status as well as reduced food intake and weight loss. The expression and secretion of leptin is highly correlated with body fat mass and adipocyte size. Cortisol and insulin are potent stimulators of leptin expression, and expression is attenuated by beta-adrenergic agonists, cAMP, and thiazolidinediones. The role of other hormones and growth factors in the regulation of leptin expression and secretion is emerging. Leptin circulates specifically bound to proteins in serum, which may regulate its half-life and biological activity. Isoforms of the leptin receptor, members of the interleukin-6 cytokine family of receptors, are found in multiple tissues, including the brain. Many of leptin's effects on food intake and energy expenditure are thought to be mediated centrally via neurotransmitters such as neuropeptide Y. Multiple peripheral effects of leptin have also been recently described, including the regulation of insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells and regulation of insulin action and energy metabolism in adipocytes and skeletal muscle. Leptin is thought to be a metabolic signal that regulates nutritional status effects on reproductive function. Leptin also plays a major role in hematopoeisis and in the anorexia accompanying an acute cytokine challenge. The profound effects of leptin on regulating body energy balance make it a prime candidate for drug therapies for humans and animals.
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PMID:The biology of leptin: a review. 962 47

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is produced in response to inflammatory and noninflammatory stress and acts as the principal regulator of the acute-phase protein response. IL-6 stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and may be involved in the thyroid function abnormalities observed in nonthyroidal illness (NTI). This study examined the effects of single-dose IL-6 (3 microg/kg subcutaneously [s.c.]) in healthy human subjects: 19 received IL-6 and 13 received control saline injection. The dose of IL-6 was chosen on the basis of previous studies indicating that the peak IL-6 level after injection reaches concentrations observed with major stress such as abdominal surgery. Plasma levels of thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), total T4, 3,5-3'-L-triiodothyronine (T3), 3,3'-5'-L-triiodothyronine or reverse T3 (rT3), and thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) were measured over a 4-hour period and 24 hours after IL-6 injection. Plasma TSH levels were 27% lower 240 minutes after IL-6 relative to control levels (0.93 +/- 0.10 v 1.28 +/- 0.18 mIU/mL, P = .001), but recovered by 24 hours. Plasma FT4 was elevated at 240 minutes compared with the controls (1.16 +/- 0.04 v 1.03 +/- 0.03 ng/dL, P = .0002). T4 levels were also elevated at 240 minutes (7.8 +/- 0.36 v 7.05 +/- 0.37 microg/dL, P = .0003). TBG levels were not significantly changed at this time point. At 24 hours, T3 levels were 19% lower than the control values (87.6 +/- 5.1 v 108.5 +/- 5.4 ng/dL, P = .0002); plasma rT3 levels were elevated by 21% compared with control levels (30.6 +/- 1.7 v 24.3 +/- 1.3 ng/dL, P = .002), while FT4 levels returned to normal. The changes in T3/rT3 levels were reminiscent of the pattern observed in NTI that may be due to inhibition of type-1 5'-deiodinase. Cortisol levels were greatly elevated after IL-6 compared with control values; peak levels were observed 120 minutes after IL-6 injection (28.7 +/- 1.6 v 9.5 +/- 1.0 ng/dL, P < .0001). This elevation in cortisol may have contributed to the suppression of TSH levels and inhibition of type-1 5'-deiodinase activity. Alternatively, IL-6 may have suppressed TSH secretion via a direct suprapituitary action. The elevation of T4 and FT4 levels may have been due to inhibition of T4 degradation at the liver and/or by direct action of IL-6 on the thyroid gland. These findings demonstrate the potent effects of IL-6 on thyroid hormone metabolism in healthy individuals, and suggest that IL-6 may act directly or indirectly at two or more sites on thyroid hormone secretion and metabolism.
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PMID:Acute and delayed effects of a single-dose injection of interleukin-6 on thyroid function in healthy humans. 978 36


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