Interleukin-6 (IL-6, also known as IFN-ß2) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays important roles in acute phase reactions, inflammation, hematopoiesis, bone metabolism, and cancer progression. IL-6 is secreted by T cells and macrophages to stimulate immune response. IL-6 is responsible for stimulating acute phase protein synthesis, as well as the production of neutrophils in the bone marrow. It supports the growth of B cells and is antagonistic to regulatory T cells.
Recombinant human Interleukin-6 (rhIL-6) produced in E. coli is a single non-glycosylated polypeptide chain containing 185 amino acids. A fully biologically active molecule, rhIL-6 has a molecular mass of 20.9 kDa analyzed by reducing SDS-PAGE and is obtained by proprietary chromatographic techniques at GenScript.