Interleukin-11 is the dominant il-6 family cytokine during gastrointestinal tumorigenesis and can be targeted therapeutically.

Australian researchers found that the interleukin-11 may be the potential target during the therapy of the cancer. This research indicated that blocking the signal of the interleukin-11 might become the therapy of the cancer that included the bowel cancer and the stomach cancer. This study was published on the Cancer Cell.

Among the cytokines linked to inflammation-associated cancer, interleukin (IL)-6 drives many of the cancer “hallmarks” through downstream activation of the gp130/STAT3 signaling pathway. However, this study showed that the related cytokine IL-11 has a stronger correlation with elevated STAT3 activation in human gastrointestinal cancers. IL-11 has a more prominent role compared to IL-6 during the progression of sporadic and inflammation-associated colon and gastric cancers. Accordingly, in the models and in human tumor cell line xenograft models, pharmacologic inhibition of IL-11 signaling alleviated STAT3 activation, suppressed tumor cell proliferation, and reduced the invasive capacity and growth of tumors.

These results identify IL-11 signaling as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.

Reference:

Putoczki TL1, Thiem S, et al. Interleukin-11 Is the Dominant IL-6 Family Cytokine during Gastrointestinal Tumorigenesis and Can Be Targeted Therapeutically [J].Cancer Cell,2014; 24(2):257-71.