GENE POLYMORPHISMS OF INTERLEUKIN-1 AND INTERLEUKIN-10 IN INFECTIOUS AND AUTOIMMUNE-DISEASES

Cytokines are proteins that regulate immune and inflammatory reactions as well as haematopoiesis. This group of molecules is very heterogene ous including, for example, several interleukins (IL), tumour necrosis factors (TNF) and colony-stimulating factors (CSF). The cytokines par ticipating in the regulation of the inflammatory response are IL-1, IL -1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), IL-6, IL-10 and TNF. Functionally the y can be divided into proinflammatory (IL-1, IL-6, TNF) and anti-infla mmatory (IL-1RA, IL-10) molecules. There is evidence that the inflamma tory response must be finely tuned: too strong a response causes the v arious adverse effects associated with infectious and autoimmune disea ses, while a weak inflammatory response attenuates the subsequent immu ne response. It has now been demonstrated that several of the cytokine genes are polymorphic. In this review we describe the polymorphisms o f the two inflammatory cytokines, IL-1 and IL-10, and their significan ce in various diseases of autoimmune or inflammatory nature.