Interleukin-6 is required in vivo for the regulation of stem cells and committed progenitors of the hematopoietic system.

The development of blood cells from hematopoietic stem cells is controlled by multiple cytokines. These growth factors influence survival, cell cycle status, differentiation into lineage-committed progenitors, final maturation into blood cells, and perhaps self-renewal of stem cells. The specific contribution of IL-6 to these processes in vivo was evaluated in mice with a targeted disruption of the IL-6 gene. Decreases in the absolute numbers of CFU-Sd12 and preCFU-S, as well as in the functionality of LTRSC in these mutant mice, suggests a role for IL-6 in the survival, self-renewal, or both of hematopoietic stem cells and early progenitors. In addition, as a result of the IL-6 deficiency, the control between proliferation and differentiation of the progenitor cells of the granulocytic-monocytic, megakaryocytic, and erythroid lineages into mature blood cells is altered, leading to abnormal levels of committed progenitors of these lineages and to a slow recovery from hematopoietic ablation.