IL6 and arthritic joint disease: The evaluation of cytokine release demonstrated that the increased arthritis severity in the offspring from BBP-exposed dams was accompanied by an elevated production of IL-17 and IFN-γ (Figure 2C) as well as the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 in the supernatant of CII-restimulated splenocytes, while the effect on TNF-α production was not significant (Figure 2D).