Or R, Abdul-Hai A, Ben-Yehuda A
Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
Cytokines Cell Mol Ther. 1998 Dec;4(4):287-94.
The identification of interleukin-7 (IL-7) as a critical cytokine in early B- and T-cell development, combined with the discovery that it acts on mature T cells, opens new avenues for investigating the thymopoietic machinery and manipulation of the immune system. Initially, IL-7 was thought to be a growth factor in the context of the B-cell lineage in that it stimulates proliferation of early B-cell progenitors. However, it appears that this cytokine has a much broader field of activity within the network of signal transduction. Indeed, evidence exists to support the pivotal involvement of IL-7 in the gene rearrangement of the T-cell receptor repertoire that ultimately leads to thymocyte commitment. The finding that IL-7 is an inducer of both cytotoxic T-cell- and lymphocyte-activated killer cells is one of the significant recent developments in the field of tumor immunology. Lately, it has been demonstrated that administration of IL-7 to mice after myeloablative treatment accelerates immune recovery via a unique pathway. This review of the literature dealing with IL-7 in the realm of immune function shows, inter alia, the value of the cytokine in immunosuppressed animals. The collection of findings noted in this paper may be considered the forerunner for clinical application of IL-7 in a variety of conditions of hematolymphopoietic failure.
白细胞介素-7（IL-7）被确定为早期B细胞和T细胞发育中的关键细胞因子，再加上发现它作用于成熟T细胞，为研究胸腺生成机制和免疫系统调控开辟了新途径。最初，IL-7被认为是B细胞谱系中的一种生长因子，因为它能刺激早期B细胞祖细胞的增殖。然而，这种细胞因子在信号转导网络中的活性范围似乎要广泛得多。事实上，有证据支持IL-7在T细胞受体库的基因重排中起关键作用，而这最终导致胸腺细胞的定向分化。IL-7是细胞毒性T细胞和淋巴细胞激活的杀伤细胞的诱导剂，这一发现是肿瘤免疫学领域近期的重大进展之一。最近有研究表明，在清髓性治疗后给小鼠注射IL-7可通过一条独特途径加速免疫恢复。这篇关于免疫功能领域中IL-7的文献综述尤其表明了该细胞因子在免疫抑制动物中的价值。本文所记录的一系列研究结果可被视为IL-7在各种造血淋巴细胞功能衰竭病症中临床应用的先驱。
