IL-18 shares with IL-1 the same family of receptors and several identical signal transduction pathways. Because of these similarities, IL-18 was investigated for its ability to induce prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) synthesis in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), a prominent, proinflammatory property of IL-1. IL-18 was highly active in PBMC by inducing the synthesis of the chemokine I...

Free radicals play an important role in inflammation. We found that reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) inhibit interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) binding on human myelomonocytes. Production of superoxide anion (O2-) by Xanthine (X) and Xanthine-Oxidase (XO) or NADPH caused a reduction (48% +/- 15% in 25 experiments) in the IL-1beta binding of polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) and monocytes that was inhi...

The carrageenan pleurisy model, which is characterized by cellular influx and oedema, has been used to examine the effects of anti-inflammatory compounds such as naproxen. Interleukin-1alpha and beta (IL-1) are known to be pro-inflammatory mediators, and their roles in this model are unknown. Intrapleural injection of 1% viscarin carrageenan or saline was administered to male Lewis rats. Four t...

IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) has regulatory effects on IL-1 activity both in vitro and in vivo. In the IgG immune complex model of lung injury in rats, exogenously administered human IL-1Ra suppressed neutrophil recruitment and ensuing lung injury. In this study, we sought to determine if endogenous rat IL-1Ra might regulate this lung-inflammatory response. By Northern blot analysis of lun...

Increasing evidence demonstrates that interleukin (IL)-32 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, inducing IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and chemokines via nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and activating protein (AP)-1 activation. Here we report that IL-32 is expressed and is also functional in human vascular endothelial cells (EC)...

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) and IL-1 receptors are constitutively expressed in normal brain. IL-1 increases non-rapid eye movements (NREM) sleep in several animal species, an effect mediated in part by interactions with the serotonergic system. The site(s) in brain at which interactions between IL-1 and the serotonergic system increase NREM sleep remain to be identified. The dorsal raphe (DRN) is the ...

Vaginal innate immunity in response to microbial perturbation is still poorly understood and could be crucial for protection from adverse outcomes. We investigated the relationship between interleukin (IL)-8, IL-1beta and neutrophils in vaginal fluid obtained from 60 healthy women and 51 women who were bacterial vaginosis (BV) positive. Concentrations of IL-8 and IL-1beta were highly correlated...

OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to investigate whether sustained volume overload is capable of inducing persistent upregulation of cardiac cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, interleukin (IL)-6 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta(1). METHODS AND RESULTS Volume overload-induced heart hypertrophy in rats was established by aortacaval fist...

Schnitzler syndrome is a rare disease characterised by chronic urticaria and arthralgia. The recent evidence that the IL-1 receptor antagonist IL-1Ra could induce rapid and complete remission of Schnitzler symptoms has pointed to IL-1 as a major pathological factor in this disease. To examine the possibility that Schnitzler syndrome may be considered to be an autoinflammatory disease, in this s...