Blockade of Interleukin 6 Signaling Induces Marked Neutropenia in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Figure 1.

Efficacy and tolerability of tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis patients seen in daily clinical practice in Japan: results from a retrospective study (REACTION study)

“…Thus, the safety profile associated with tocilizumab needs to be carefully evaluated. With respect to laboratory parameters, decreased WBC counts and increased liver enzyme levels and/or serum cholesterol levels have been reported to be associated with tocilizumab use [15, 39]. However, in our study, although significant WBC count decreases and AST/ALT and TC increases were observed, these changes were tolerable (Table 2).…”

Necrotizing fasciitis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab

“…The administration of tocilizumab may reduce the WBC count through the suppression of neutrophil recruitment into the peripheral blood by IL-6 inhibition [7,8], as seen in our patient. Blood tests showed a WBC count of 4,100/ll (neutrophil count, 2,600/ll) before the initiation of tocilizumab and 3,000/ll (neutrophil count, 1,100/ll) after 12 administrations at 48 weeks.…”

C reactive protein as a predictor of neutrophil recovery in autoimmune neutropenia

“…Generally IL-6, IL-8 [5,6], and CRP [7] are considered to be useful markers as a predictor of the patients' prognosis for febrile neutropenia. However, an important function of IL-6 in granulopoiesis has been suggested in the recent report demonstrating that a humanized anti-IL-6 receptor antibody induced prompt and potent suppression of neutrophil recruitment into peripheral blood [8]. Several investigators have shown that IL-8, a potent and selective neutrophil chemoattractant and activator [9], induces a rapid neutropenia followed by neutrophilia [10] and stimulates the bone marrow to release neutrophils to the peripheral blood [11].…”