Abstract
Several cytokines, i.e., B cell growth factors (BCGFs) and B cell differentiation factors (BCDFs), have recently been found to be involved in the proliferation and differentiation of human B cells [2]. Of these cytokines, B cell stimulatory factor 2 (BSF-2) was originally identified as a T cell derived interleukin that induces the terminal maturation of activated B cells to immunoglobulin-producing cells [3]. Molecular cloning of the complementary DNA (cDNA) revealed that BSF-2 is identical to the 26-kDa protein interferon-s2 (IFN-s2), hybridoma/plasmacytoma growth factor, and hepatocyte-stimulating factor [3, 4]. This multifunctional cytokine, now called interleukin-6 (IL-6), is produced not only by T cells [3] but also by macrophages [5] and fibroblasts [6]. Macrophages produce IL-6 in the absence of an apparent stimulus, whereas T cells require antigen or mitogen stimulation for IL-6 production [7]. It has been demonstrated that IL-6 is a growth factor for myeloma/plasmacytoma [6], Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell lines [5], and T cells [8].
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