Interleukin-18 and Crohn’s Disease

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The etiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease remains an area under intense investigation. Crohn’s disease (CD) is characterized by a marked accumulation of activated Th1 type CD4+ T cells and macrophages in inflamed intestinal mucosa. IL-18 is a recently described cytokine that mainly exists in activated macrophages and shares biological activities with IL-12 in driving the development of Th1 type CD4+ T cells by inducing interferon-γ. To clarify the role of IL-18 in intestinal inflammation in CD, we assessed the functional role of IL-18 in regulating intestinal mucosal lymphocytes in human CD and murine CD model.