Interleukin 6 promotes epithelial migration by a fibronectin-dependent mechanism.

We investigated the effect of interleukin 6 (IL-6) on the migration of rabbit corneal epithelium in vitro and on the attachment of dissociated corneal epithelial cells to a fibronectin matrix. When corneal blocks were cultured with IL-6 for 24 hours, the length of the path of epithelial migration over exposed corneal stroma increased significantly (p less than 0.005 at the concentration of 10 ng/ml) in proportion to the concentrations of IL-6 (0.1-10.0 ng/ml). The addition of antiserum against fibronectin or of GRGDSP abolished the stimulatory effect of IL-6 on epithelial migration. When corneal epithelial cells were cultured with various concentrations of IL-6, suspended, and plated on wells coated with fibronectin (10 micrograms/ml), the number of cells attached to the wells increased in a dose-dependent manner. The presence of antibody against fibronectin or of GRGDSP during the attachment assay decreased the number of cells attached to the fibronectin matrix, regardless of the fact that the cells had been cultured with IL-6 or not. IL-6 stimulated the attachment of corneal epithelial cells to collagen type IV and to laminin matrices. However, the presence of GRGDSP did not affect the cell attachment to collagen type IV and to laminin. These findings strongly indicate that IL-6 stimulates epithelial migration in the cornea by a fibronectin-dependent mechanism, presumably the increased expression of fibronectin receptors.