Using mouse models of allergic asthma, we found that an IL‐6R mAb that blocks both pathways had a protective effect on allergen‐induced airway inflammation only when the experimental model used resulted in increased levels of sIL‐6R in the airways and so that was likely to involve activation of IL‐6 trans‐signalling8, 29. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and allergic asthma.