Interleukin-18: a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in acute pancreatitis.
A large body of clinical and experimental evidence suggests that cytokines play a key role in the pathogenesis of local and systemic complications of acute pancreatitis. IL-18 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a key role in many human diseases, including acute pancreatitis. This review focuses on the present understanding in IL-18 and its potential role in acute pancreatitis. IL-18 levels reflect the severity of acute pancreatitis and display a significant negative correlation with the concentrations of antioxidative damage factors, serum selenium and glutathione peroxidases (GPx). The relationship between IL-18 and other pro-inflammatory cytokines shows that IL-18 is one of the key mediators of inflammation in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. Elevation of serum IL-18 levels may mediate acute pancreatitis associated liver injury. The use of IL-18 antagonists as direct routes to block IL-18 activity and P2X7 receptor antagonists and interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE) inhibitors as indirect routes to block IL-18 activity suggest that specific therapeutic inhibition of IL-18 is a promising therapeutic approach for acute pancreatitis.
Yuan
Bo-Si
BS
Department of Gastroenterology, Clinical School of Nanjing, Southern Medical University, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. cat409@126.com
Zhu
Ren-Min
RM
Braddock
Martin
M
Zhang
Xiao-Hua
XH
Shi
Wei
W
Zheng
Ming-Hua
MH
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D020382:Interleukin-18