Interleukin-27: Can a cytokine with both pro & anti-inflammatory activity make a good drug target?

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 20, 2014Interleukin-27 (IL-27), a member of the interleukin family of cytokines that help regulate the immune system, has a mainly anti-inflammatory role in the body, and its dysfunction has been implicated in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. More recently, IL-27's proinflammatory activity and role in chronic inflammatory diseases is becoming increasingly clear, and a new Review article that explores the potential to target a range of diseases that share common IL-27-activated mechanisms is presented in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the JICR website until November 20, 2014.

Christopher Wynick, Carlene Petes, and Katrina Gee, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, explain how IL-27 can contribute to the control of both anti- and proinflammatory responses depending on the predominant type of immune response elicited in the body, the disease type, and the disease severity. They focus primarily on the proinflammatory activity of the cytokine in the article "Interleukin-27 Mediates Inflammation During Chronic Disease".

"IL-27 is emerging as a significant determinant of the character of inflammatory response and this review provides an important perspective," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio.

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About the Journal

Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that covers all aspects of interferons and cytokines from basic science to clinical applications. JICR is an official journal of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR) website.

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Original post:
Interleukin-27: Can a cytokine with both pro & anti-inflammatory activity make a good drug target?