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Presents a literature review on interleukin 6 (IL-6) and haemostasis. Significance of IL-6 in the treatment of haemostasis; Information on IL-6 and its receptors; Coverage of the IL-6 cytokine family.

Coagulation factor concentrates are known to inhibit a variety of immune reactions when assessed in vitro. This study assessed the immunomodulatory activity of a wide range of coagulation factor concentrates by measuring their inhibition of PHA-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation and reduction in IL-2 secretion. The hypothesis that TGF-β is responsible for most of these effects was tested by measuring biologically active TGF-β and immunoreactive TGF-β1 in the concentrates and comparing the levels recorded with immunosuppressive activity. In addition, the coagulation factors were compared directly with a standard preparation of TGF-β in a TGF-β-specific bioassay and in lymphocyte proliferation assays. Although there was a broad correlation between levels of total or active TGF-β and immunosuppressive activity across all of the coagulation factors tested, individual data sets showed clear discrepancies. Implying that TGF-β probably serves as a surrogate marker for other immunomodulatory contaminants and that neither TGF-β nor any other single substance could account for all of the immunosuppressive activity observed. Furthermore, there was a difference of more than 100-fold in the relative potencies of coagulation factors and pure TGF-β, when compared in immunosuppression assays, indicating that the different assays did not measure the same substance. Whereas anti-TGF-β antibody almost completely blocked the activity of coagulation factor concentrates (TGF-β-specific bioassay) and abrogated the effect of authentic TGF-β (immunosuppression assays) at high concentrations it achieved <50% reversal of the immunosuppressive effects of coagulation factors in immunosuppression assays. These findings indicated that TGF-β accounted for only a minor proportion of the immunosuppressive activity in most coagulation factor concentrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microparticles (MPs) are considered to be important biological effectors of several different physiological and pathological processes. There is increasing evidence of their role in haemostasis and thrombosis, and also of their importance in cancer cell survival, invasiveness and metastasis. The level of circulating MPs has been assessed in many different disease states, and there are reports that patients with malignancy and patients with thrombosis have increased levels of circulating MPs and MP-dependent thrombogenic potential. Research into the function and effect of MPs is currently hampered by a lack of standardization in the methods used to identify and quantify them. As these methods improve it is likely that MP assays will be of use both diagnostically and therapeutically in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study showing occurrence of mutation in both calreticulin gene (CALR) and JAK2 V617F in a retrospective analysis of patients. Topics discussed include JAK 2 V617F and CALR exon 9 mutation considered to be mutually exclusive, whole genome analysis identified mutation of CALR gene in patients with thrombocythaemia and myelofibrosis, and a real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction plot for double-mutant patients.