Deletion of interleukin-6 in mice with the dominant negative form of transforming growth factor beta receptor II improves colitis but exacerbates autoimmune cholangitis

The data from these observations emphasize that there are distinct mechanisms involved in inducing pathology in inflammatory bowel disease compared to autoimmune cholangitis. These data also suggest that patients with inflammatory bowel disease may not be the best candidates for treatment with anti-IL-6R if they have accompanying autoimmune liver disease and emphasize caution for therapeutic use of anti-IL-6R antibody.