Interleukin-6 in retinal diseases: From pathogenesis to therapy.

Ruihan Xiao, Chunyan Lei, Yi Zhang, Meixia Zhang

Experimental eye research 2023 Aug

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Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that participates in immunomodulation, inflammation, increases vascular permeability, hematopoiesis, and stimulates cell proliferation, among other biological processes. It exerts effects primarily through the classic and trans-signaling pathways. Many studies have demonstrated that IL-6 plays a critical role in the development of retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal vein occlusion, central serous chorioretinopathy and proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Thus, the progressive development of drugs targeting IL-6 and IL-6 receptor may play a role in the treatment of multiple retinal diseases. In this article, we comprehensively review the IL-6's biological functions of and its mechanisms in the pathogenesis of various retinal diseases. Furthermore, we summarize the drugs targeting IL-6 and its receptor and prospect their potential application in retinal diseases, hoping to provide new ideas for the treatment of retinal diseases. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Ruihan Xiao, Chunyan Lei, Yi Zhang, Meixia Zhang. Interleukin-6 in retinal diseases: From pathogenesis to therapy. Experimental eye research. 2023 Aug;233:109556