Interleukin 6

Internal medicine

Peripheral blood mononuclear cell

Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist

Antibody

Receptor

Interleukin-6 receptor

In vitro

Immunology

Antagonist

Tocilizumab

Rheumatoid arthritis

Immunotherapy

Receptor antagonist

Cytokine

Disease

Cytokine storm

Cytokine release syndrome

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Chimeric antigen receptor

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Monoclonal antibody

Biochemistry

Medicine

Biology

Immune system

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance In patients with coronavirus disease 2019, a large number of T lymphocytes and mononuclear macrophages are activated, producing cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), which bind to the IL-6 receptor on the target cells, causing the cytokine storm and severe inflammatory responses in lungs and other tissues and organs. Tocilizumab, as a recombinant humanized anti-human IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, can bind to the IL-6 receptor with high affinity, thus preventing IL-6 itself from binding to its receptor, rendering it incapable of immune damage to target cells, and alleviating the inflammatory responses.

Effective treatment of severe COVID-19 patients with tocilizumab