The expression of interleukin‐6 by a rat macrophage‐derived cell line

A stable rat macrophage-derived cell line (RMSV1) was established by transformation of primary peritoneal exudate cells with the SV40 virus. The RMSV1 cell line was used as a model to study the regulation of the interleukin-6 (IL6) gene expression in rat macrophages with respect to lipopolysaccharides (LPS), interleukin-1 (IL1) and glucocorticoids. The IL6 mRNA level in RMSV1 cell lines was induced 20-fold within 4 h by LPS, whereas IL1 had no effect. The glucocorticoids were able to inhibit completely the induction of the IL6 mRNA synthesis by LPS, indicating the negative regulation of the IL6 gene expression by glucocorticoids.