Interleukin-6 is dispensable in pituitary normal development and homeostasis but needed for pituitary stem cell activation following local injury

ABSTRACT: Recently, we discovered that the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) acts as a pituitary stem cell-activating factor, both when administered in vivo and when added to stem cell organoid cultures in vitro. Moreover, its expression, predominantly localized in the gland’s stem and mesenchymal cells, promptly increases following damage in the adult pituitary, leading to stem-cell proliferative activation. Given these findings that IL-6 is involved in pituitary stem cell regulation, we addressed the question whether the cytokine has an impact on the pituitary phenotype during active phases of the gland’s remodeling, in particular embryonic development and neonatal maturation, as well as during homeostasis at adulthood and aging, all unknown today. Using the IL-6 knock-out (KO) mouse model, we show th

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PROVIDER: S-EPMC9815540 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature