title: Hijacking and exploitation of IL-10 by intracellular pathogens.
abstract: Macrophages play a central role in infections, as a target for pathogens and in activation of the immune system. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), a cytokine produced by macrophages, is a potent immunosuppressive factor. Some intracellular pathogens specifically target macrophages for infection and use IL-10 to dampen the host immune response and stall their elimination from the host. Certain viruses induce production of cellular IL-10 by macrophages, whereas other viruses encode their own viral IL-10 homologs. Additionally, specific bacteria, including several Mycobacteria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes, can survive and replicate in macrophages while inducing cellular IL-10, highlighting a potential role for IL-10 of macrophage origin in the immunosuppressive etiology of these pathogens. Thus, the exploitation of IL-10 appears to be a common mechanism of immunosuppression by a diverse group of intracellular pathogens that can infect macrophages.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Redpath
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghazal
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Gascoigne
mesh_terms: D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000821:virology*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D016753:Interleukin-10