[The progress of the IL-12 cytokine family in allergic rhinitis]

As the IL-12 family plays an important role in immune regulation, it arouses the attention of the researchers increasingly. There are mainly four members in the IL-12 family, including IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and IL-35 at present. The family members share many similar structures, but they have their own distinctive biological characteristics and play different roles to balance the functional effects of their own family. IL-12 and IL-23 are positive regulators and mainly play pro-inflammatory effect while IL-27 and IL-35 are negative regulators and mainly play anti-inflammatory effect. Thus, IL-12 family plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response and this function may be better than other cytokine family. IL-12 family has an important regulatory effect on multiple T cell subsets and also has an impact on their differentiation and function. So, we postulate that the IL-12 family may have an intense relationship with the generation and development of the allergic rhinitis. This article will mainly talk about the unique structure and role of the IL-12 cytokine family and discuss its immune regulation effect in the allergic rhinitis.