Patent ID: 8277804

Claim:
A method of reducing the risk of hypercoagulation or thrombosis in a subject having an elevated IL-6 level and an elevated D-dimer level by reducing the level of serum D-dimer in said subject, comprising administering to the subject an amount of an IL-6 antagonist, wherein said IL-6 antagonist is an antibody or antibody fragment that specifically binds human IL-6, wherein said antibody or antibody fragment comprises a variable light (VL) region containing the VL complementarity regions, CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3, respectively in SEQ ID NO:4, 5 and 6, and comprises a variable heavy (VH) region containing the VH complementarity regions, CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3, respectively in SEQ ID NO:7, 8 or 120 and 9, and which antibody or fragment is administered in an amount effective to reduce the level amount of serum D-dimer thereby reducing the risk of hypercoagulation or thrombosis in said subject.