I found an article that was covering new treatment possibilities for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that were recently discovered. This possibility arose when the cytokine IL-23 was identified as playing a large role in the pathogenesis of this disease. It was found that IL-23 was being expressed in many different types of cells from the peripheral blood and intestinal mucosa of patients with IBD, demonstrating that new treatments of IBD may be aimed at limiting the damage caused by IL-23.
Having not heard of IL-23 as being a contributor to the disease in any of the articles we read in class, I did a little research on the cytokine. What I found out was that IL-23 assists in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inflammation as it induces CD4+ T cells which subsequently produces IL-17 and IL-6, both of which are known to act as proinflammatories. Interestingly, I also came across another article which stated IL-23 was also discovered in increased amounts in dendritic cells in patients that have Multiple Sclerosis. In the same article, it was shown that when inhibiting IL-23 along with IL-12, increased amounts of IL-10 and a decrease in TNF-α production were noticed; thus, presenting a possible drug treatment for MS aimed at IL-23 inhibition as well.
The articles mentioned can be found using the following links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110331114844.htm
http://www.jleukbio.org/content/89/4/597.full
http://www.jimmunol.org/content/176/12/7768.short
http://www.signaling-gateway.org/update/updates/200502/nri1559.html
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