Spandana Vakapalli
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) was originally referred by diverse names as interferons (Weissenbach et al., 1980; Zilberstein et al., 1986), 26K factor (Content et al., 1982; Haegeman et al., 1986), B-cell stimulatory factor 2 (Hirano et al., 1985), hybridoma growth factor (van Snick et al., 1986; Brakenhoff et al., 1987), plasmacytoma growth factor (Nordan et al., 1987), hepatocytestimulatory factor (Gauldie et al., 1987), a hematopoietic factor (Ikebuchi et al., 1987), and cytotoxic T- cell differentiation factor (Takai et al., 1988)-each name reflecting a different biological activity controlled by the same protein. It is now clear that IL-6 plays a central role in diverse host defense mechanisms such as the immune response, hematopoiesis, and acute-phase reactions.While IL-6 appears to have little to do with the day-to-day “housekeeping” functions of the body, along with other cytokines it represents an important frontline component of the body’s armory against infection or tissue damage.