Objectives: To detect the activity of interleukin-6 (rhIL-6) on human lung cancer and the influences of recombinant human IL-6 (rhIL-6) on the in vitro growth of high-metastatic human lung giant cell carcinoma cell line PG and low-metastatic human lung adenocarcinoma cell line PAa.
Methods: The effects of rhIL-6 on the expressions of IL-6, IL-6R, c-myc, c-fos and c-jun mRNAs were analyzed by Northern blotting hybridization.
Results: rhIL-6 could stimulate the in vitro growth of both PG and PAa cells, in a dose-and-time-dependent manner. Both PG and PAa cells were shown to express IL-6 and IL-6R identified by reverse transcription PCR analysis. Northern blotting hybridization revealed that rhIL-6 up-regulated mRNA levels of IL-6, IL-6R and c-myc rather than those of c-fos and c-jun.
Conclusion: These data suggest that rhIL-6 may promote the proliferation of human lung cancer cell lines PG and PAa, which might, at least partly, be related to the up-regulation of expressions of IL-6, IL-6R, c-myc gene transcript.