title: The emerging role of interleukin-21 in allergic diseases (Review).
abstract: Interleukin (IL)-21 is a newly discovered member of the type I cytokine family. Since its discovery in 2000, IL-21 has been the focus of extensive investigation, due to its homology to IL-2, IL-4 and IL-15 and its pleiotropic effects on innate and adaptive immune responses. An increasing amount of experimental evidence supports a role for IL-21 in the pathogenesis of several allergic diseases, such as allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis (AD) and atopic asthma. In this review, we aimed to discuss the biological characteristics of IL-21 and summarize the current progress on the role of IL-21 in the regulation of allergic inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yu Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei Hong
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Shen
keywords: allergic rhinitis; atopic asthma; atopic dermatitis; interleukin-21