The interpretation of results can depend on the way you look at things.

Look at this picture. What do you see?
Do you see an old woment (you see a nose) or a young women (you see a jaw)?

Now Look at this. What do you see?
Don't know what this is?.
An educational comment for pwMS and researchers
It is interleukin 10.

It maybe doesn't mean much to you, but it may help you understand papers a bit better and questions whether you should accept dogma without thought.


Say this to a T cell immunologist and they see an immunoregulatory cytokine.

"Interleukin 10 (IL-10), also known as human cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (CSIF), is an anti-inflammatorycytokine"

In humans, IL-10 is primarily produced by monocytes and, to a lesser extent, lymphocytes, namely type 2 T helper cells (TH2), mast cells, CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells, and in a certain subset of activated T cells and B cells

IL-10 is a cytokine with multiple, pleiotropic, effects in immunoregulation and inflammation. It downregulates the expression of Th1 cytokines, MHC class II antigens, and co-stimulatory molecules on macrophages.

Now show this to a B cell immunologist and they see something different 

IL-10 is a cytokine that enhances B cell survival, proliferation, and antibody production and could be produced to help make antibody producing cells

How about Interleukin 4.

T cell immunologist says "IL-4 decreases the production of Th1 cells, macrophages, IFN-gamma, and dendritic cell IL-12."

or a  B cell immunologist says "IL-4 stimulates activated B-cell proliferation, and the differentiation of B cells into plasma cells. It is a key regulator in humoral  immunity. IL-4 induces B-cell class switching and up-regulates MHC class II production to potentially act as an antigen presenting cell.

How about interleukin 6?
It is viewed as being pro-inflammatory?, 
However, It can be anti-Inflammatory but it can also supports the growth of B cells .

So lets looks in MS and see what has been have found

Guerrier T, Labalette M, Launay D, Lee-Chang C, Outteryck O, Lefèvre G, Vermersch P, Dubucquoi S, Zéphir H.Proinflammatory B-cell profile in the early phases of MS predicts an active disease. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2017; 5(2):e431. 

OBJECTIVE:To assess whether any alteration of B-cell subset distribution and/or the cytokine production capacities of B cells could be associated with any stage of MS and could be predictive of MS evolution.
METHODS:We prospectively enrolled radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS), clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), naive patients with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) of any disease modifying drug, and healthy controls (HCs). Peripheral blood B-cell subset distributions and the interleukin (IL)-6/IL-10-producing B-cell ratio were assessed by flow cytometry to evaluate their proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory functional properties.
RESULTS:Twelve RIS, 46 CIS, 31 RRMS patients, and 36 HCs were enrolled. We observed that a high IL-6/IL-10-producing B-cell ratio in patients with RIS/CIS was associated with the evolution of the disease in the short term (6 months). This imbalance in cytokine production was mainly explained by an alteration of the production of IL-10 by B cells, especially for the transitional B-cell subset. In addition, a significant increase in IgD-/CD27- memory B cells was detected in patients with CIS and RRMS compared with Hs (p = 0.01). Apart from this increase in exhausted B cells, no other variation in B-cell subsets was observed.
CONCLUSIONS:The association between a high IL-6(pro-inflammatory)/IL-10(anti-inflammatory) -producing B-cell ratio and the evolution of patients with RIS/CIS suggest a skew of B cells toward pro-inflammatory properties that might be implicated in the early phases of MS disease.


So as you can see the B cell production of IL-6 is viewed as pro-inflammatory and IL-10 is antiinflammatory, but are these simply B cell producing agents? 

I don't have the answer which is which, but use this to illustrate that many things you get told you may have different explanations

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