Multiple Roles of IL6 in Hepatic Injury, Steatosis, and Senescence Aggregate to Suppress Tumorigenesis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) typically develops on a background of chronic hepatitis for which the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is conventionally considered a crucial driving factor. Paradoxically, IL-6 also acts as a hepatoprotective factor in chronic liver injury. Here we used the multidrug-resistant gene 2 knockout (Mdr2-/-) mouse model to elucidate potential roles of IL-6 in chronic hepatitis-associated liver cancer. Long-term analysis of three separate IL-6/Stat3 signaling-deficient Mdr2-/- strains revealed aggravated liver injury with increased dysplastic nodule formation and significantly accelerated tumorigenesis in all strains. Tumorigenesis in the IL-6/Stat3-perturbed models was strongly associated with enhanced macrophage accumulation and hepatosteatosis, phenotypes of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), as well as with significant reductions in senescence and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) accompanied by increased hepatocyte proliferation. These findings reveal a crucial suppressive role for IL-6/Stat3 signaling in chronic hepatitis-associated hepatocarcinogenesis by impeding pro-tumorigenic NASH-associated phenotypes and by reinforcing the anti-tumorigenic effects of the SASP.