Emerging role of interleukin-1 in cardiovascular diseases

There is an increasing evidence linking dysbalance between various proinflammatory mediators and higher risk of cardiovascular events and pathologies. Likewise, some of the cardiovascular diseases lately appeared to have an autoimmune component. Interleukin-1 (IL-1), a master regulator of diverse inflammatory processes in higher eukaryotes and the key player in numerous autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus or systemic sclerosis, has recently been proved to be involved in development of several cardiovascular diseases as well. This report aims to give a summary on current knowledge about the IL-1 signaling pathways and about the implication of IL-1 and the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) in some of the diseases of the cardiovascular system.