title: Interleukin 6: identification as a hematopoietic colony-stimulating factor.
abstract: Interleukin 6 is a multifunctional cytokine that exerts a variety of effects on different cell types. These effects include differentiation of B cells and cytotoxic T cells, growth promotion of hybridomas and activation of hepatocytes and mitogen-stimulated helper T cells. We identified and molecularly cloned a cDNA encoding a novel myeloid colony-stimulating activity from a human T cell line. This cytokine proved to be identical to the factor currently known as IL-6, thereby demonstrating effects of IL-6 with hematopoietic target cells. In addition to its ability to support murine granulocyte-macrophage colony formation, IL-6 was found to act synergistically with IL-3 in both the murine and human systems in support of colony formation by the primitive blast cell colony forming cell. This multitude of biologic activities suggests that IL-6 plays a prominent role within a network of cytokines in integrating the different arms of the host response to infection.
authors.affiliation: Genetics Institute, Inc., Cambridge, MA 02140.
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Witek-Giannotti
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hewick
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6; D007378:Interleukins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors; D015850:Interleukin-6; D007378:Interleukins; D004247:DNA