Anti-human interleukin-6 receptor antibody inhibits human myeloma growth in vivo.

Myeloma is one of the interleukin (IL)-6-related diseases to which abnormal expression of IL-6 has been reported to be linked. We examined the in vivo inhibitory effect of anti-human IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) antibody on human myeloma cell growth in mice. SCID mice were subcutaneously inoculated with solid tumor of the myeloma cell line S6B45 in which human IL-6 was acting as an autocrine growth factor. Ten intraperitoneal administrations of 100 micrograms of the anti-human IL-6R antibody PM1 at 48-h intervals strongly inhibited the growth of S6B45 cells when the administration started 24 h after tumor inoculation. The tumor growth inhibition in vivo was also observed by administration of the anti-human IL-6 antibody MH166 using the same procedure as for PM1. The inhibitory effect of PM1 was not significant when the administration started 5 or more days after tumor inoculation. This work indicates that anti-human IL-6R antibody, as well as anti-human IL-6 antibody inhibits human myeloma growth in vivo, and provides an animal model for testing the therapeutic value of agents such as antibodies to human IL-6, IL-6R and gp130, an IL-6R-associated signal transducer, in the treatment of human myelomas.