Evaluation of the Tocilizumab therapy in human cancers: Latest evidence and clinical potential

Tocilizumab (Actemra®), as the first human interleukin‐6 receptor (IL‐6R) antagonist, has been used in treating moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who were undertreatment with one or more disease‐modifying anti‐rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and did not improve significantly. Tocilizumab also has been administrated and confirmed in several inflammatory‐based diseases. Recently, tocilizumab has been prescribed to treat patients with advanced coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) and is used as one of the effective drugs in reducing the increased inflammation in these patients. On the other hand, cancer treatment has been considered by researchers one of the most important challenges to human health. Regarding inflammatory‐associated malignancies, it has been shown that inflammatory mediators such as interleukin‐1 beta (IL‐1β), IL‐6, and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) may play a role in tumorigenesis, thus targeting these cytokines as evidence suggested can be useful in the treatment of these types of cancers. This review summarized the role of the IL‐6/IL‐6R axis in inflammation‐based cancers and discussed the effectiveness and challenges of treating cancer with tocilizumab. Increased inflammatory responses can be destructive in various diseases. The IL‐6/IL‐6R axis is one of the major contributors to this hyperinflammation, and it has been shown that inhibition of receptor IL‐6R using tocilizumab could be effective in treating RA, inflammatory‐mediated cancers, COVID19 and IBDs. However, the use of this drug is associated with limitations, such as increasing the chance of infection.