We recently provided evidence that IL-6 is causally linked to the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy using two different experimental approaches: (i) increasing the circulating levels of IL-6 in mdx mice and analysing its effects in a stage normally spared by the absence of dystrophin and (ii) blocking IL-6 signalling in mdx mice at the prenecrotic stage and analysing its effects at the acute onset of the pathology. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and muscular dystrophy.