IL-37 As a Potential Biotherapeutics of Inflammatory Diseases

• Published in: Current drug targets Vol. 21; no. 9; p. 855
• Main Authors: Bai, Junhui, Li, Yukun, Li, Meixiang, Tan, Sijie, Wu, Daichao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Adaptive Immunity; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - immunology; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Autoimmune Diseases - drug therapy; Autoimmune Diseases - etiology; Humans; Immunity, Innate; Inflammation - drug therapy; Inflammation - etiology; Interleukin-1 - immunology; Interleukin-1 - pharmacology; cytokine; anti-inflammatory; immune-mediated inflammatory; Interleukin-37; inflammatory diseases; rheumatoid arthritis
• DOI: 10.2174/1389450121666200429114926

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) was discovered as a new member of pro-inflammatory IL-1 superfamily. However, further studies suggested that IL-37 plays a critical anti-inflammatory role in innate and adaptive immunity. IL-37 may suppress the inflammatory process via intracellular SMAD family member 3 (SMAD3) and extracellular IL-18 Receptor alpha (IL-18Rα) signaling pathway, respectively. Meanwhile, the abnormal expression of IL-37 was observed in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, asthma, and multiple sclerosis, which suggest IL-37 is a potential therapeutic target for these diseases. In this review, we summarize the anti-inflammatory mechanism of IL-37 and discuss the critical roles of IL-37 in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Further studies are required to confirm the effectiveness of IL-37 as a novel target for these inflammatory diseases.