The IL6-like Cytokine Family: Role and Biomarker Potential in Breast Cancer

Abstract

IL6-like cytokines are a family of regulators with a complex, pleiotropic role in both the healthy organism, where they regulate immunity and homeostasis, and in different diseases, including cancer. Here we summarise how these cytokines exert their effect through the shared signal transducer IL6ST (gp130) and we review the extensive evidence on the role that different members of this family play in breast cancer. Additionally, we discuss how the different cytokines, their related receptors and downstream effectors, as well as specific polymorphisms in these molecules, can serve as predictive or prognostic biomarkers with the potential for clinical application in breast cancer. Lastly, we also discuss how our increasing understanding of this complex signalling axis presents promising opportunities for the development or repurposing of therapeutic strategies against cancer and, specifically, breast neoplasms.

Bioinformatic analysis as a first step to predict the compatibility of hematopoiesis and immune system genes between humans and pigs

“…This result was consistent with our previous studies showing that the interaction of IL‐2 and IL‐2R across humans and pigs might have defects 61 . Inflammatory factors IL‐6 and IL‐31 can be expressed and secreted by many kinds of immune cells and are major pro‐inflammatory factors 62,63 . The low compatibilities between human and pig IL‐6 and IL‐31 indicated their limited effectiveness on xenogeneic cells.…”

“…Therefore, these dissimilar genes should be paid attention to avoid coagulation disorders in human and pig xenogeneic combination settings. There are several important studies reporting the function similarities or dissimilarities of related proteins between humans and pigs, which are summarized with their sequence similarities and domain composition consistency identified in the present study [20][21][22][61][62][63][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80] (Table 1).…”

“…61 Inflammatory factors IL-6 and IL-31 can be expressed and secreted by many kinds of immune cells and are major proinflammatory factors. 62,63 The low compatibilities between human and pig IL-6 and IL-31 indicated their limited effectiveness on xenogeneic cells. However, the in vitro observations demonstrated that human and pig IL-6 can activate the IL-6/IL-6Rα/STAT3 pathway in human and pig cells.…”

The pathogenic role of IL6 gene polymorhisms in type 1 diabetes mellitus

“…Предполагается, что такая активность IL6 может приводить к постепенному разрушению β-клеток поджелудочной железы [10]. IL-6 передает сигналы через комплекс рецепторов цитокинов 1-го типа на клеточной мембране, состоящей из лиганд-связывающей цепи IL-6Rα (CD126) и компонента, передающего сигналы gp130 (также называемый CD130) [11,12]. Возможно, что IL-6 обладает и противовоспалительным действием, которые, скорее всего, обусловлены его классической передачей сигналов (через аналогичные белки, связанные с мембраной).…”

Special Issue “Cancer Biomarker Research and Personalized Medicine”

“…Although biomarkers have been defined according to specific applications, biomarkers may also meet multiple criteria for different uses. Numerous papers contributed to this Special Issue deal with biomarkers that fall into this category, including studies involving colorectal [18] and breast [19][20][21] cancers.…”