Interleukin-6 and aging: Impact on immune defense and tissue repair in urinary bladder

Recurrent urinary tract infections afflict millions of post-menopausal women in the US each year, imposing a tremendous personal and financial burden on society. Our goal here is to understand how the sex hormone estrogen regulates the course of UTIs and bladder recovery after the infection. This work will lead to development of therapeutic interventions for this recalcitrant disease in aging menopausal populations.