Submitted July 19, 2007
Accepted November 3, 2007
Transgenic blockade of Interleukin-6-trans-signaling abrogates inflammation
Bjorn Rabe, Athena Chalaris, Ulrike May, Georg H Waetzig, Dirk Seegert, Anwen S Williams, Simon A Jones, Stefan Rose-John*, and Jurgen Scheller
Department of Biochemistry, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany
CONARIS Research Institute AG, Kiel, Germany
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
* Corresponding author; email: rosejohn{at}biochem.uni-kiel.de.
The immunoregulatory cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL6) acts in a pro- and anti-inflammatory fashion. Synthesized by myeloid cells, fibroblasts and endothelial cells, IL6 on target cells, binds to the IL6 receptor (IL6R) and signals via complex formation with the ubiquitously expressed gp130 receptor. Paradoxically, most cells, which respond to IL6 during inflammatory states do not express the IL6R and are themselves not directly responsive to the cytokine. A naturally occurring soluble form of the IL6R renders all cells responsive to IL6. This alternative signaling process is called IL6-trans-signaling. Here we developed a transgenic strategy based on the overexpression of the soluble form of gp130, which specifically blocks all IL6 responses mediated by the soluble IL6R but does not affect IL6 responses via the membrane bound IL6R. In these mice, inflammatory processes are blocked as in IL6-/- mice strongly arguing for a major role of the soluble IL6R during inflammation in vivo.
