Identification of factors that may stimulate ischemia-induced neovascularization without increasing atherosclerotic plaque progression is of major therapeutic importance. We hypothesized that interleukin-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), a major antiinflammatory protein with plaque-stabilizing activities, may affect the neovascularization in mice ischemic hindlimb. Ischemia was produced by artery f...

Interleukins have been well described in mice and humans. In large domestic animals the situation is drastically different and there is still a need for further researches aiming at identifying all the homologous interleukins and comparing their functions among species. We performed here a bibliometric analysis of all interleukins described in the literature in various large animal species to i...

Interleukin 15 (IL15) and interleukin 18 (IL18) are cytokines produced principally by macrophages during innate immune response and subsequently profoundly influence adaptive immunity. Recent studies have shown that IL15 and IL18 play an influential part in inflammatory response. Here we present recent data mainly from our own laboratories illustrating the importance of IL15 and IL18 in the ind...

Venkatapuram Seenu Reddy, Sumanth D. Prabhu, Srinivas Mummidi, Anthony J. Valente, Balachandar Venkatesan, Prakashsrinivasan Shanmugam, Patrice Delafontaine, and Bysani Chandrasekar Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas; Institute of Molecular Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, and Medical Service, Louisville Veterans Af...

Patients with heart failure (HF) have enhanced systemic IL-1 activity, and, in the experimental mouse model, IL-1 induces left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. Whether the effects of IL-1 are direct or mediated by an inducible cytokine, such as IL-18, is unknown. Recombinant human IL-18-binding protein (IL-18BP) or an IL-18-blocking antibody (IL-18AB) was used to neutralize endogenous IL-...

IL-18 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine of the IL-1 family and it induces IL-1, TNF, and IL-6, all of which are endogenous pyrogens. The pyrogenic properties of recombinant IL-18 were studied in a rabbit model of fever. rIL-18 did not cause fever when injected intravenously into rabbits. Furthermore, the ability of rIL-18 to modulate other components of the acute-phase response was assessed. rIL-1...

Proinflammatory cytokines, such as gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), impact aspects of T-cell responses after infection, including expansion, contraction, and memory formation. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) functions as a proinflammatory cytokine by stimulating the production of IFN-gamma from multiple cell types and accentuating the development of Th1 CD4 T-cell responses. Focused microarray analyses rev...

IL-18 has been found to be associated with eczema. However, little is known of the role of IL-18 binding protein (BP) and IL-18 receptor (R) in eczema. We therefore investigated the expression of IL-18, IL-18BP, and IL-18R on mast cells by using flow cytometry analysis and mouse eczema model. The results showed that plasma free IL-18 and free IL-18BP levels in eczema patients were higher than t...