IL6 and infection: The importance of these cytokines in the response to infection may be seen in recent studies in which the inhibition of IL-18 or 5-lipoxygenase improved the resistance of mice to parasites in acute phase, with an increase in levels of cytokines such as IL-12, INF-γ, IL-1β, and IL-6 and a decrease in the level of IL-10 (Canavaci et al., 2014; Esper et al., 2014).