IL6 and influenza: Previous in-vitro studies have shown that influenza infection induces the production of cytokines IFN-α, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and the mononuclear cell attractant chemokines CCL-3/MIP-1α, CCL-4/MIP-1β, CCL-2/MCP-1, CCL-7/MCP-3, CXCL-10/IP-10 and CCL-5/RANTES in human monocytes, epithelial cells, rat alveolar or murine macrophages [48,50,53-62].