IL-18: throwing off the shackles to boost anti-tumor immunity

摘要

In a new study in Nature, Zhou et al.identify IL-18BP as a novel soluble immune checkpoint, and describe engineering of a decoy-resistant IL-18 to overcome this barrier and drive potent anti-tumor immunity. Cytokines are soluble molecules important in cell signaling and communication, with the ability to orchestrate the immune response in autoimmunity, infection and cancer.The discovery of the potent tumoricidal activity of interferons paved the way for intense clinical investigation of several inflammatory cytokines in preclinical models, including IFN-α1 and IL-2,2 with cytokine therapy historically being an important treatment modality forcancer.