Generation of Soluble Interleukin-11 and Interleukin-6 Receptors: A Crucial Function for Proteases during Inflammation

Figure 1

Schematic illustration of IL-6 and IL-11 signaling. IL-6 (dark blue) binds to membrane-bound and soluble forms of the IL-6R (light blue), which leads to gp130 (brown) homodimerization and subsequent activation of the intracellular signaling pathways Jak/STAT, MAPK, and PI3K. Similarly, IL-11 (dark green) can bind to both membrane-bound and soluble forms of the IL-11R (light green), and both lead to homodimerization of gp130. Whereas activation of Jak/STAT, MAPK, and PI3K has been shown for signaling via the membrane-bound IL-11R, formally only activation of the Jak/STAT pathway via the sIL-11R has been demonstrated.