title: Interleukin-6 is required in vivo for the regulation of stem cells and committed progenitors of the hematopoietic system.
abstract: The development of blood cells from hematopoietic stem cells is controlled by multiple cytokines. These growth factors influence survival, cell cycle status, differentiation into lineage-committed progenitors, final maturation into blood cells, and perhaps self-renewal of stem cells. The specific contribution of IL-6 to these processes in vivo was evaluated in mice with a targeted disruption of the IL-6 gene. Decreases in the absolute numbers of CFU-Sd12 and preCFU-S, as well as in the functionality of LTRSC in these mutant mice, suggests a role for IL-6 in the survival, self-renewal, or both of hematopoietic stem cells and early progenitors. In addition, as a result of the IL-6 deficiency, the control between proliferation and differentiation of the progenitor cells of the granulocytic-monocytic, megakaryocytic, and erythroid lineages into mature blood cells is altered, leading to abnormal levels of committed progenitors of these lineages and to a slow recovery from hematopoietic ablation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernad
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kopf
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kulbacki
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Weich
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koehler
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Ramos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D002470:Cell Survival; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6