Yang M, Zhang CY. Interleukins in liver disease treatment. World J Hepatol 2024; 16(2): 140-145 [PMID: 38495285 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i2.140]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ming Yang, DVM, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Missouri, Room 2203, NextGen Precision Building, 1030 Hitt Street, Columbia, MO 65212, United States. yangmin@health.missouri.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2024; 16(2): 140-145 Published online Feb 27, 2024. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i2.140
Interleukins in liver disease treatment
Ming Yang, Chun-Ye Zhang
Ming Yang, Department of Surgery, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, United States
Chun-Ye Zhang, Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, United States
Author contributions: Yang M and Zhang CY designed, collected data, wrote, revised, and finalized the manuscript, contributed equally, and shared the first authorship.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ming Yang, DVM, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Missouri, Room 2203, NextGen Precision Building, 1030 Hitt Street, Columbia, MO 65212, United States. yangmin@health.missouri.edu
Received: December 4, 2023 Peer-review started: December 4, 2023 First decision: December 17, 2023 Revised: December 22, 2023 Accepted: January 8, 2024 Article in press: January 8, 2024 Published online: February 27, 2024 Processing time: 85 Days and 11.2 Hours
Abstract
Cytokines play pleiotropic roles in human health and disease by regulating both innate and adaptive immune responses. Interleukins (ILs), a large group of cytokines, can be divided into seven families, including IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and IL-17 families. Here, we review the functions of ILs in the pathogenesis and resolution of liver diseases, such as liver inflammation (e.g., IL-35), alcohol-related liver disease (e.g., IL-11), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (e.g., IL-22), liver fibrosis (e.g., Il-17a), and liver cancer (e.g., IL-8). Overall, IL-1 family members are implicated in liver inflammation induced by different etiologies, such as alcohol consumption, high-fat diet, and hepatitis viruses. IL-2 family members mainly regulate T lymphocyte and NK cell proliferation and activation, and the differentiation of T cells. IL-6 family cytokines play important roles in acute phase response in liver infection, liver regeneration, and metabolic regulation, as well as lymphocyte activation. IL-8, also known as CXCL8, is activated in chronic liver diseases, which is associated with the accumulation of neutrophils and macrophages. IL-10 family members contribute key roles to liver immune tolerance and immunosuppression in liver disease. IL-12 family cytokines influence T-cell differentiation and play an essential role in autoimmune liver disease. IL-17 subfamilies contribute to infection defense, liver inflammation, and Th17 cell differentiation. ILs interact with different type I and type II cytokine receptors to regulate intracellular signaling pathways that mediate their functions. However, most clinical studies are only performed to evaluate IL-mediated therapies on alcohol and hepatitis virus infection-induced hepatitis. More pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to evaluate IL-mediated monotherapy and synergistic therapies.
Core Tip: Interleukins as a large group of cytokines play pleiotropic roles in liver homeostasis and disease by regulating both innate and adaptive immune responses. They can be divided into seven families, and all of them are involved in the pathogenesis and resolution of chronic liver diseases. Currently, interleukin-mediated therapies are applied in patients with hepatitis induced by alcohol or hepatitis virus infection.
