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The role of IL-18 in innate immunity
1Department of Host Defense, CREST of Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan. sakira@biken.osaka-u.ac.jp
Current Opinion in Immunology
|February 19, 2000
Abstract:
IL-18 - a novel cytokine with potent IFN-gamma-inducing activities - plays an important role in the Th1-mediated immune response in collaboration with IL-12. IL-18 is a member of the IL-1 family. The IL-18 receptor system and its signal transduction pathway are analogous to those of the IL-1 receptor. Mice deficient in IL-18 have demonstrated its critical role in natural killer cell activity and in vivo Th1 response.