Interleukin 6 as a marker of mesangial cell proliferative activity

Background. The role of Interleukin 6 (IL-6) in the pathogenesis of mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis has been controversial. To test the hypothesis that glomerular mesangial cell (GMC)-derived IL-6 may not be a mitogen for GMCs, but, rather, a factor that reflects GMC proliferative activity, we investigated how the culture condition; namely, cell confluency, affected IL-6 production in human cultured GMCs.