Interleukin-6 is an inflammatory cytokine with wide-ranging biological effects. It has been widely demonstrated that neuroinflammation plays a critical role in the development of pathological pain. Recently, various pathological pain models have shown elevated expression levels of interleukin-6 and its receptor in the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia. Additionally, the administration of interleukin-6 could cause mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia, and an intrathecal injection of anti-interleukin-6 neutralizing antibody alleviated these pain-related behaviors. These studies indicated a pivotal role of interleukin-6 in pathological pain. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in understanding the roles and mechanisms of interleukin-6 in mediating pathological pain associated with bone cancer, peripheral nerve injury, spinal cord injury, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, complete Freund's adjuvant injection, and carrageenan injection. Understanding and regulating interleukin-6 could be an interesting lead to novel therapeutic strategies for pathological pain.
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.
CITATION STYLE
Zhou, Y. Q., Liu, Z., Liu, Z. H., Chen, S. P., Li, M., Shahveranov, A., … Tian, Y. K. (2016, June 7). Interleukin-6: An emerging regulator of pathological pain. Journal of Neuroinflammation. BioMed Central Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-016-0607-6