The involvement of interleukin-1 (IL-1) in inflammation, tumor growth, and metastasis makes it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Here, we show that a continuous delivery of a low, but steady-state level of the naturally occurring IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) reduced inflammatory responses and inhibited tumor development in mice, phenomena that are induced by IL-1, mainly s...

Pro-inflammatory cytokines like interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) are major players in the interaction between the immune system and the central nervous system. Various animal studies report a sleep-promoting effect of IL-1 leading to enhanced slow wave sleep (SWS). Moreover, this cytokine was shown to affect hippocampus-dependent memory. However, the role of IL-1 in human sleep and memory is not yet u...

The primary purpose of this project was to study exercise-induced leukocyte cytokine mRNA expression. Changes in plasma cytokine levels and blood leukocyte mRNA expression for interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL- 10, and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) were measured in 12 athletes following 2 h of intensive cycling ( approximately 64% Watts(max)) while ingesting a carbohydrate or placebo beverage ...

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), tumor necrosis factor soluble receptors (sTNF-R) type I and II, and regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) play an important role in the modulation of primary glomerulonephritis (GN) course. The aim of the study was to assess whether pre-treatment measurements of IL-1ra, sTNF-R, and RANTES assessed conjointly may be u...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by neutrophilic inflammation in the airways and these neutrophils contribute to the production of inflammatory mediators. Dampening the production of proinflammatory mediators might be an important strategy to treat COPD and glucocorticosteroids are known to do so via inhibition of nuclear factor-κB. However, this pathway is importan...

This study investigated the possible association of the interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) C-511T promoter polymorphism and the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) (86bp)(n) variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism with antidepressant response to paroxetine and mirtazapine treatment. The study group consisted of 101 patients suffering from DSM-IV major depression participating in...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Chronic inflammatory process plays an important role in atherothrombosis. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is one of the key modulators of the inflammatory response and its activity is critically regulated by its receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra). A variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of IL-1Ra gene and a C to T single base polymorphism in the promoter of IL-1beta gene (C(...

Ischemic heart disease is a widespread cause of death. During infarction, myocardial injury is mediated by release of several pro-inflammatory cytokines including multifunctional interleukin-1 (IL-1). In various tissues, IL-1-mediated deleterious effects are known to be attenuated via the over-expression of natural anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). In the present inv...

Gastrointestinal stasis during sepsis may be associated with gastrointestinal smooth muscle dysfunction. Endotoxin [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)] impairs smooth muscle contraction, in part through inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS II) and enhanced nitric oxide production. We studied the roles of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) in this process by using TNF binding protein (...