Tumor growth and food intake in interleukin-6 gene knock-out mice.
Interleukin (IL)-6 has potential antitumor activity and at the same time is responsible for tumor-derived cachexia. Using IL-6 gene knock-out (GKO) mice, we investigated the effect of IL-6 deficiency on the survival time, tumor growth and daily food intake of mice inoculated with Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. IL-6 GKO mice gained weight due to tumor growth more rapidly than the wild-type mice. The daily food intake of wild-type mice declined on day 2 after tumor inoculation and was only 37% on day 8. In contrast, the daily food intake of IL-6 GKO mice was constant for the first 7 days after tumor inoculation. Although wild-type mice suffered from cachexia, their survival time was significantly longer than that of IL-6 GKO mice. We propose that both IL-6 secretion and cancer cachexia syndrome may be involved in the defense mechanism against tumor progression.
Environmental Health Sciences Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
A
A
Molotkov
M
M
Satoh
C
C
Tohyama
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002286:Carcinoma, Ehrlich Tumor / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015430:Weight Gain
D015850:Interleukin-6