ReviewInflammation and regeneration2021
Interleukin-6: evolving role in the management of neuropathic pain in neuroimmunological disorders.
Review in Inflammation and regeneration, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of IL6 Gene Polymorphisms and Neurological Disorders: Insights from Integrated Bioinformatics and Meta-Analysis.Neuromolecular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Two faces of Amitriptyline in anMolecular and clinical oncology · 2026Article
- The function of chemokine-driven glial-neuronal interaction in chronic pain.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Context dependent role of miR-486 promoting neuroregeneration of primary sensory neurons downstream of interleukin-6 signal transducer.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
- Biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid of persistent neuropathic pain after lumbar stenosis surgery.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Article
- Sex Differences in the Regulation of Interleukins in Chronic Pain: A Widely Recognized but Difficult-to-Tackle Factor.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Alcohol Consumption Modulates the Development of Chronic Pain in COVID-19 Patients: A Network Meta-Analysis.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2025Article
- Aging-dependent immunological changes in multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Interactions and Trends of Interleukins, PAI-1, CRP, and TNF-α in Inflammatory Responses during the Perioperative Period of Joint Arthroplasty: Implications for Pain Management-A Narrative Review.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Exercise, Spinal Microglia and Neuropathic Pain: Potential Molecular Mechanisms.Neurochemical research · 2024Review
- TSLP in DRG neurons causes the development of neuropathic pain through T cells.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2023Article
- Chronic alcohol induced mechanical allodynia by promoting neuroinflammation: A mouse model of alcohol-evoked neuropathic pain.British journal of pharmacology · 2023Article
- Single-cell RNA sequencing of neurofibromas reveals a tumor microenvironment favorable for neural regeneration and immune suppression in a neurofibromatosis type 1 porcine model.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Lysophosphatidylcholine: Potential Target for the Treatment of Chronic Pain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNeuropathic pain in neuroimmunological disorders refers to pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory system such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). MS and NMOSD are autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system, and ≥ 50% of patients with these disorders experience chronic neuropathic pain. The currently available medications for the management of neuropathic pain have limited effectiveness in patients with MS and NMOSD, and there is an unmet medical need to identify novel therapies for the management of chronic neuropathic pain in these patients. In this review article, we summarize the role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the pathogenesis of MS and NMOSD and the ameliorative effects of anti-IL-6 therapies in mouse models of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). MAIN BODY: Intraperitoneal injection of MR16-1, an anti-IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) antibody, reduced mechanical allodynia and spontaneous pain in EAE mice, which was attributed to a reduction in microglial activation and inhibition of the descending pain inhibitory system. The effect of anti-IL-6 therapies in ameliorating neuropathic pain in the clinical setting is controversial; a reduction in pain intensity has been reported with an anti-IL-6 antibody in four studies, namely a case report, a pilot study, a retrospective observational study, and a case series. Pain intensity was evaluated using a numerical rating scale (NRS), with a lower score indicating lesser pain. A reduction in the NRS score was reported in all four studies. However, in two randomized controlled trials of another anti-IL-6R antibody, the change in the visual analog scale pain score was not statistically significantly different when compared with placebo. This was attributed to the low mean pain score at baseline in both the trials and the concomitant use of medications for pain in one of the trials, which may have masked the effects of the anti-IL-6R antibody on neuropathic pain.
conclusionThus, anti-IL-6 therapies might have a potential to reduce neuropathic pain, but further investigations are warranted to clarify the effect of inhibition of IL-6 signaling on neuropathic pain associated with MS and NMOSD.
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