Benveniste Etty N, Qin Hongwei
Department of Cell Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-0005, USA.
Sci STKE. 2007 Dec 11;2007(416):pe70. doi: 10.1126/stke.4162007pe70.
The type I interferons (IFNs), IFN-alpha and IFN-beta, are cytokines that have antiviral, antiproliferative, and immunomodulatory activities. Data are now emerging that suggest that type I IFNs are also important mediators of anti-inflammatory responses. These findings, largely driven by studies to explain the beneficial effects of IFN-beta in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, offer a number of mechanisms for the anti-inflammatory properties of type I IFNs. Type I IFNs, through their ability to induce the immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10), mediate the inhibition of proinflammatory gene products. In addition, type I IFNs induce other immunosuppressive mediators such as suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS-1) and tristetrapolin (TTP), which act by divergent mechanisms to restore homeostasis to the immune system. Furthermore, type I IFNs mediate anti-inflammatory and protective effects in a variety of autoimmune disease models such as experimental colitis, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, experimental arthritis, and neonatal inflammation. Here, we discuss the molecular basis for the anti-inflammatory properties of type I IFNs and their therapeutic potential in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
I型干扰素（IFN），即IFN-α和IFN-β，是具有抗病毒、抗增殖和免疫调节活性的细胞因子。目前有数据表明，I型干扰素也是抗炎反应的重要介质。这些发现主要是由解释IFN-β治疗中枢神经系统自身免疫性疾病——多发性硬化症的有益作用的研究推动的，为I型干扰素的抗炎特性提供了多种机制。I型干扰素通过诱导免疫抑制细胞因子白细胞介素-10（IL-10），介导对促炎基因产物的抑制。此外，I型干扰素还诱导其他免疫抑制介质，如细胞因子信号转导抑制因子-1（SOCS-1）和锌指蛋白TTP，它们通过不同机制发挥作用，使免疫系统恢复稳态。此外，I型干扰素在多种自身免疫性疾病模型中发挥抗炎和保护作用，如实验性结肠炎、实验性变应性脑脊髓炎、实验性关节炎和新生儿炎症。在此，我们讨论I型干扰素抗炎特性的分子基础及其在自身免疫性疾病和炎症性疾病中的治疗潜力。
