Application

Human interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been used to study the effects of IL-6, along with IL-8 and IL-1β, on the clot structure of healthy blood.

Biochem/physiol Actions

IL-6 is a multifunctional protein originally discovered in the media of cells stimulated with double stranded RNA. IL-6 appears to be directly involved in the responses that occur after infection and injury and may prove to be as important as IL-1 and TNF-α in regulating the acute phase response. IL-6 is reported to be produced by fibroblasts, activated T cells, activated monocytes or macrophages, and endothelial cells. It acts upon a variety of cells, including fibroblasts, myeloid progenitor cells, T cells, B cells and hepatocytes. IL-6 induces multiple effects, as indicated by its numerous synonyms: plasmacytoma growth factor (PCT-GF), interferon-β-2 (IFN-β₂), monocyte derived human B cell growth factor, B cell stimulating factor (BSF-2), hepatocyte stimulating factor (HSF), Interleukin Hybridoma/Plasmacytoma-1 (IL-HP1). In addition, IL-6 appears to interact with IL-2 in the proliferation of T lymphocytes. IL-6 also potentiates the proliferative effect of IL-3 on multipotential hematopoietic progenitors.

General description

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a multi-functional 26 kDa protein originally discovered in the medium of RNA-stimulated fibroblastoid cells¹. IL-6 appears to be directlyinvolved in the immune responses that occur after infection and cellular injury, and it may prove to be as important as IL-1 and TNF-a in regulating the acute phase response^2,3. IL-6 is reportedly produced by fibroblasts, activated T cells, activated monocytes or macrophages, and endothelial cells. It acts upon a variety of cells including fibroblasts, myeloid progenitor cells, T cells, B cells, and hepatocytes. IL-6 induces multiple effects as indicated by its numerous synonyms⁴. In addition, IL-6 appears to interact with IL-2 in the proliferation of T lymphocytes⁵. IL-6 potentiates the proliferative effect of IL-3 on multipotential hematopoietic progenitors⁶.This product is lyophilized from a 0.2 mm-filtered solution of phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.4, containing a stabilizer. The product was prepared from raw materials verified to be carrier free.