Interleukin (IL)-18 is the interferon-gamma-inducing factor and has other proinflammatory properties. The precise role of IL-18 in immunoinflammatory diseases remains poorly understood. In this study, we show that in vivo electrotransfer of an expression-plasmid DNA encoding for murine IL-18 binding protein (BP) (the endogenous inhibitor of IL-18) prevents fatty streak development in the thorac...

1. Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA 2. State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Pathophysiology, Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100005, China 3. Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), Ludwig-M...

To evaluate the balance status of interleukin 18 (IL-18) and interleukin 18 binding protein (IL-18BP) in circulation in patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS), plasma levels as well as mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of IL-18 and IL-18BP were measured by ELISA and RT-PCR respectively. The ratio of IL-18/IL-18BP was also calculated. ...

Although interleukin (IL)-18 is a member of the IL-1 family of ligands, IL-18 appears to have unique characteristics, particularly in the regulation of the T helper type 1 (Th1) response. Th1 responses are required for tumor surveillance, killing intracellular organisms, and to provide help for antibody production. In patients with chronic renal failure, the well-known immunosuppression contrib...

OBJECTIVE To measure serum interleukin 18 (IL18) and IL18 binding protein (IL18BP) levels in patients with inflammatory arthropathies, and to identify associations with disease status and the response to treatment. METHODS Serum samples were obtained before and after methotrexate treatment from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) attending an early arthritis ...