Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a recently described member of the IL-1 cytokine superfamily, is now recognized as an important regulator of innate and acquired immune responses. IL-18 is expressed at sites of chronic inflammation, in autoimmune diseases, in a variety of cancers, and in the context of numerous infectious diseases. This short review will describe the basic biology of IL-18 and thereafte...

BRITTA SIEGMUND,1 GIAMILA FANTUZZI,1 FLORIAN RIEDER,2 FABIA GAMBONI-ROBERTSON,3 HANS-ANTON LEHR,4 GUNTHER HARTMANN,2 CHARLES A. DINARELLO,1 STEFAN ENDRES,2 AND ANDREAS EIGLER2 Departments of 1Medicine and 3Surgery, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80206; 2Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Medizinische Klinik Innenstadt, Klinikum of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universi...

A novel, constitutively expressed and secreted interleukin 18 (IL18) binding protein (IL18BP) neutralises IL18. IL18BP shares many characteristics with soluble cytokine receptors of the IL1 family in that the protein exhibits specificity for IL18, belongs to the immunoglobulin-like class of receptors and has limited amino acid sequences with those of the IL1 receptor type II. However, unlike so...