Effects of exogenous interleukin-6 during Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal infection

Lack of interleukin-6 (IL-6) during Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal infectio n leads to more severe disease with changes in neutrophil recruitment. Exog enous IL-6 leads to increased efficiency of neutrophil recruitment and redu ced bacterial loads in corneal infection in both IL-6 gene knockout and wil d-type mice. This may be mediated by IL-6 increasing the production of corn eal macrophage inflammatory protein 2 and intercellular cell adhesion molec ule 1. We conclude that effective recruitment of neutrophils into the corne a is dependent on the production of IL-6 and that early augmentation of IL- 6 may be protective in corneal infection.