Interleukin therapeutic applications

The growing list of endogenous inhibitors of angiogenesis holds great promise for therapeutic applications (Table 2). Substances most advanced in clinical development include Endostatin, Angiostatin, Interleukin-12, Thrombospondin, and Tumstatin. As... 

Biomedical research continues to broaden our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlining both health and disease. Research undertaken since the 1950s has pinpointed a host of proteins produced naturally in the body that have obvious therapeutic applications. Examples include the interferons and interleukins (which regulate the immune response), growth factors, such as erythropoietin (EPO which stimulates red blood cell production), and neurotrophic factors (which regulate the development and maintenance of neural tissue). 

Krawczenko, A., Kieda, C., and Dus, D. 2005. The biological role and potential therapeutic applications of interleukin 7. Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis 53(6), 518-525. 

The biological activities of several other interleukins also render them likely candidates for therapeutic application. IL-5 represents one such candidate. IL-5 is a 115 amino acid glycoprotein produced mainly by activated T lymphocytes and also by mast cells. It functions as a homodimer, exhibiting a molecular mass of 45 kDa. The individual polypeptide chains interact non-covalently and the overall dimeric structure is stabilized by two interchain disulphide linkages between cysteines 42 and 84 of each chain. Removal or alterations of the cytokine s carbohydrate side-chain does not appear to affect its biological activity. 

Immunoaffinity techniques were widely employed for the analyses and purification of proteins [191-193]. Immobilized antibodies were used, e.g., for industrial scale production of human interferon-a2a, interleukin-2, and interleukin-2 receptor, while protein A and protein G were successfully used in therapeutic applications including purification of human immunoglobulin G from plasma and semm [194—196]. 

No particular therapy is effective. It is not known whether the minute quantities of phytomenadione that are present in some foods, such as parsley, kale, brussels sprouts, spinach, cucumber, soy bean oil, and green and black tea leaves, preclude effective dietary therapy. Since the mechanism of this reaction is thought to be delayed hypersensitivity, another potential therapeutic approach is topical application of tacrolimus (FK-506), a potent inhibitor of interleukin 2 and T cell activation. Tacrohmus up to now has only been shown to suppress allergic contact dermatitis to dinitrophenol. 

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