| First Author | Esfandiari E | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 167 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 5338-47 |
| PubMed ID | 11673550 | Mgi Jnum | J:72675 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2153388 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.167.9.5338 |
| Citation | Esfandiari E, et al. (2001) A proinflammatory role of il-18 in the development of spontaneous autoimmune disease. J Immunol 167(9):5338-47 |
| abstractText | Serum from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) contained significantly higher concentrations of IL-18 than normal individuals. MRL/lpr mice, which develop spontaneous lupus-like autoimmune disease, also had higher serum levels of IL-18 than wild-type MRL/++ mice. Daily injections of IL-18 or IL-18 plus IL-12 resulted in accelerated proteinuria, glomerulonephritis, vasculitis, and raised levels of proinflammatory cytokines in MRL/lpr mice. IL-18-treated MRL/lpr mice also developed a 'butterfly' facial rash resembling clinical SLE. In contrast, MRL/lpr mice treated with IL-18 plus IL-12 did not develop a facial rash. The facial lesion in the IL-18-treated mice showed epidermal thickening with intense chronic inflammation accompanied by increased apoptosis, Ig deposition, and early systemic Th2 response compared with control or IL-12 plus IL-18-treated mice. These data therefore show that IL-18 is an important mediator of lupus-like disease and may thus be a novel target for therapeutic intervention of spontaneous autoimmune diseases. |
