Fingering IL-23, again

The similarities between chronic and tumor-associated inflammation, such as increased angiogenesis and vasculature density, have been well documented. Researchers from Schering-Plough Corp. published a study this month in Nature suggesting that a heterdimeric cytokine, interleukin-23, may play a key role in blocking the infiltration of cytotoxic T cells that would otherwise promote an anti-tumor immune response.

Researchers at SGP (Kenilworth, N.J.) had already noted the role of IL-23 in inflammation. In 2003, they reported that IL-12 - previously thought to be the cause of a number of deleterious inflammatory effects in the central nervous system - was not actually to blame. Instead, they identified the culprit as IL-23, a cytokine with a similar protein structure consisting of an identical p40 subunit (see BioCentury, Feb. 17, 2003)...