IL6 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Furthermore, when the ASM cells were further treated with NaSH (100μM) in addition to the MAPK inhibitors, a further decrease in IL-6 and CXCL8 release was observed in the COPD patients (P < 0.05) although this still failed to reach baseline levels as seen in cells from smokers and non-smokers (Fig. 6b & c).