The present invention concerns methods and reagents useful in modulating interleukin gene expression in a variety of applications, including use in therapeutic, diagnostic, target validation, and genomic discovery applications. Specifically, the invention relates to small nucleic acid molecules, such as short interfering nucleic acid (siNA), short interfering RNA (siRNA), double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), micro-RNA (miRNA), and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) molecules capable of mediating RNA interference (RNAi) against interleukin (e.g., IL-1, IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-15, IL-16, IL-17 and IL-18 genes and genes encoding interleukin receptors of IL-1, IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-15, Il-16, IL-17 and IL-18) gene expression and/or activity. The small nucleic acid molecules are useful in the treatment of transplant rejection, autoimmune disease, inflammatory disease, infectous disease, allergy, and any other condition that responds to modulation of interleukin expression or activity.
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