In this study, we tested the effect of therapeutic inhibition of IL6 receptor (Il6r) to ameliorate the dystrophic phenotype in young (4 weeks of age) mdx mice, based on the evidence that IL6 protein expression was detected in infiltrating cells in the interstitial space among muscle fibers of DMD patients (Fig. 1A) and was significantly up-regulated in the diaphragm muscle of dystrophic mdx mice (Fig. 1B). Here, IL6R is linked to Duchenne muscular dystrophy.