The Future of IL-1 Targeting in Kidney Disease.

Interleukin (IL)-1α and IL-1β are proinflammatory cytokines that play a role in many diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and periodic inflammatory syndromes, including familial Mediterranean fever and Muckle-Wells syndrome. Drugs targeting IL-1 such as recombinant IL-1Ra (anakinra), neutralizing anti-IL-1β antibodies (canakinumab) and IL-1β traps (rilonacept) are in clinical use to treat these diseases. Additionally, experimental evidence suggests a role of IL-1 in kidney disease and hypertension and targeting IL-1 showed promising results in high cardiovascular risk patients, hemodialysis and renal transplantation patients. We now summarize knowledge on the potential role of IL-1 targeting in patients with kidney disease.