INTERLEUKIN 6-PRODUCING MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA

Systemic amyloidosis of the amyloid A (AA) type, is occasionally assoc iated with various neoplasms, but the cause is still unclear. We obtai ned interleukin 6 (IL-g)-producing cells designated YO from a primary culture of a malignant peritoneal mesothelioma of epithelial type obta ined from a 62-year-old woman. Post mortem examination revealed that t he patient had systemic amyloidosis of the AA type. The supernatant me dia of YO cells, as well as recombinant human IL-6, successfully induc ed nonneoplastic liver cells to produce serum AA (SAA). Our data sugge st that IL-6 produced by the tumor cells may have played an important role in the paraneoplastic