IL6 and Sepsis: Animal studies have revealed that glutamine supplementation attenuates the release of the proinflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-6 in septic animals and improves survival [13,14]; hence, a positive effect of parental glutamine administration to critically ill patients may – at least in part – be due to a modulation of excessive proinflammatory cytokine release during the systemic inflammation associated with critical illness in general, and with severe sepsis in particular.