Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Department of Gastroenterology, Changchun Central Hospital, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Respir Res. 2017 Nov 14;18(1):192. doi: 10.1186/s12931-017-0675-x.
Interleukin (IL)-37 belongs to the IL-1 cytokine family. It binds to IL-18Rα and recruits the orphan decoy IL-1R8. Emerging evidence shows that IL-37 is a key player in the regulation of inflammation, cellular differentiation, and proliferation. Altered IL-37 expression has been demonstrated in many inflammatory disease conditions, including asthma. In rheumatoid arthritis, IL-37 is involved in the regulation of proliferation, production of inflammatory mediators, and activation of inflammatory cells. Furthermore, this cytokine acts as a negative regulator of inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease. Similarly, IL-37 also appears to suppress allergic inflammation in asthma. In a murine model of asthma, local administration of IL-37 markedly reduced the degree of inflammatory cell infiltration and airway hyper-responsiveness. IL-37 has also been shown to be involved in a number of aspects of allergic inflammation, such as eosinophil and neutrophil recruitment, as well as inhibition of Th1/Th2/Th17 inflammatory mediators. However, the exact molecular mechanisms underlying the function of IL-37 in human asthma have yet to be fully elucidated. This review describes the current evidence regarding the role of IL-37 in the pathophysiology of asthma and evaluates both the potential of IL-37 as a biomarker for airway inflammation and a therapeutic target for the treatment of asthma.
白细胞介素（IL）-37 属于 IL-1 细胞因子家族。它与 IL-18Rα 结合并募集孤儿诱饵 IL-1R8。新出现的证据表明，IL-37 是调节炎症、细胞分化和增殖的关键因子。在许多炎症性疾病中，包括哮喘，已经证明了 IL-37 的表达发生了改变。在类风湿关节炎中，IL-37 参与调节细胞增殖、炎症介质的产生和炎症细胞的激活。此外，这种细胞因子在炎症性肠病中作为炎症的负调节剂发挥作用。同样，IL-37 似乎也能抑制哮喘中的过敏炎症。在哮喘的小鼠模型中，局部给予 IL-37 显著降低了炎症细胞浸润和气道高反应性的程度。IL-37 还被证明参与了过敏炎症的许多方面，如嗜酸性粒细胞和中性粒细胞的募集，以及抑制 Th1/Th2/Th17 炎症介质。然而，IL-37 在人类哮喘中的功能的具体分子机制尚未完全阐明。本综述描述了目前关于 IL-37 在哮喘病理生理学中的作用的证据，并评估了 IL-37 作为气道炎症的生物标志物和哮喘治疗的治疗靶点的潜力。
