Liu A H
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
Allergy Asthma Proc. 2000 Jul-Aug;21(4):227-30. doi: 10.2500/108854100778248881.
More than a decade of cytokine immunology has revealed a central role for pro-allergic TH2-like cytokines in the immune pathogenesis of allergic diseases and asthma. Of these, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 are produced mostly by T lymphocytes; more recently, numerous other immune cell types have been found capable of producing these cytokines as well, although their role in mediating atopic disease pathogenesis is less well understood. In contrast, the counterregulatory cytokine IFN-gamma can inhibit both the production and activities of the pro-allergic cytokines; therefore, central to the atopic diseases is a paradigm of cytokine imbalance, with overproduction of the TH2-like cytokines, and a relative deficiency of IFN-gamma production. Intriguing recent evidence is that all humans are TH2-like cytokine "skewed" at birth, due to maternal-fetal immune biology imperatives. However, further investigations suggest that IFN-gamma is likely to be pro-inflammatory in many if not most aspects of chronic allergic inflammation. Therefore, our understanding of these "classic TH2" diseases evolves, with important insights that will serve to optimize therapeutic strategies and investigations in the new millennium.
十多年的细胞因子免疫学研究揭示了促过敏性TH2样细胞因子在过敏性疾病和哮喘的免疫发病机制中起着核心作用。其中，IL-4、IL-5和IL-13主要由T淋巴细胞产生；最近，人们还发现许多其他免疫细胞类型也能够产生这些细胞因子，尽管它们在介导特应性疾病发病机制中的作用尚不太清楚。相比之下，起反调节作用的细胞因子IFN-γ可以抑制促过敏性细胞因子的产生和活性；因此，特应性疾病的核心是细胞因子失衡的模式，即TH2样细胞因子产生过多，而IFN-γ产生相对不足。最近有趣的证据表明，由于母婴免疫生物学的必要性，所有人类在出生时都是TH2样细胞因子“偏向”的。然而，进一步的研究表明，IFN-γ在许多（如果不是大多数）慢性过敏性炎症方面可能具有促炎作用。因此，我们对这些“经典TH2”疾病的理解在不断发展，这些重要的见解将有助于在新千年优化治疗策略和研究。
