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Biology of IL-38 and its role in disease
Frank L van de Veerdonk1,2, Dennis M de Graaf1,2, Leo Ab Joosten1,2
1Department of Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Radboudumc, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
IL-38 belongs to the IL-36 cytokines, which in turn are part of the IL-1 family. The first biological function of IL-38 described was blocking the activation of the IL-36R signaling similar to IL-36Ra. Since IL-36 cytokines require processing in order to become fully active, it is likely that IL-38 also must be processed to become maximally active. However, the protease(s) responsible for this is currently not known. In addition of IL-38 binding IL-36R, it has been proposed it can also interact with the co-receptor TIGIRR2. IL-38 is expressed in several tissues including tonsils, placenta, heart and brain, and IL-38 has been implicated in a wide variety of diseases including cardiovascular and autoimmune disease. Here, we discuss the discovery and biological function of IL-38, and its role in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of diseases.
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