Role of the circulatory interleukin-6 in the pathogenesis of gliomas: A systematic review

Figure 1 Physiology of interleukin (IL)-6. IL-6 has regulatory role in various physiological processes such as inflammation, immunity and reproduction. IL-6 is induced by viruses and UV, etc., and is released by macrophages, monocytes and stromal cells under normal physiological conditions, and under pathophysiological conditions, it is induced by nuclear factor-κB, prostaglandin E2, hypoxia and released by tumor-infiltrating immune cells and tumor cells, etc. IL-6 can activate the STAT3 signaling pathway either by the classical pathway or trans-signaling pathway. Activation of STAT3 can upregulate a variety of genes and may have an important role in tumor formation.