The blockade of interleukin-6 receptor as a therapeutic strategy for chronic inflammatory diseases

Interleukin (IL)-6 is an inflammatory cytokine which plays a pathological role in chronic inflammatory disease such as Castleman’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and Crohn’s disease. A new therapeutic strategy blocking the IL-6 signal utilizing humanized anti-IL-6 receptor antibody has been introduced for these diseases. In this review, shall describe the involvement of IL-6 in those diseases and the present state of clinical development of anti-IL-6 receptor antibody therapy.