Interleukin-10

IL-10 is produced by many different cell types under a wide variety of stimuli. interleukin -10 (IL-10) is a key regulator of immune responses. Because of its ability to turn off cytokine production by T cells, IL-10 was originally described as a cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (CSIF). IL-10 receptor complex is expressed by many different immune and parenchymal cell types, and signal transduction is regulated by multiple other signaling pathways, and it is responsible for many different pathophysiological events. The chapter discusses a major area that delineates the immunomodulatory roles of IL-10 in important disease states, particularly autoimmune disease, transplantation, infection, and ischemia-reperfusion. The study is directed toward separating out the immunosuppressive from the immunostimulatory activities of IL-10. The biological spectrum of activity of vIL-10 versus cIL-10 suggests that it may be possible to channel the activity of IL-10 in the desired direction. The agonist and antagonist ligands remain to be discovered and characterized. The demonstration that IL-10 and IL-22 share the IL-10R2 subunit suggests an additional level of regulation through alternative heterodimers on the cell surface.