IL6 and age-related macular degeneration: Active IL-1β has known roles in initiating and propagating sterile inflammation, including macrophage recruitment (100), activation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) (101) and modulating chemokine expression (18), which in retinal degenerative diseases such as AMD are characteristic pathogenic features that ultimately result in progressive photoreceptor cell death.