A Key to Better Immune System Control?
Scientists believe that chronic inflammation or an overactive immune response - and the long-term damage it causes to health and longevity - might be controlled with greater subtlety than is presently possible. "The [interleukin-27 (IL-27)] cytokine limits the duration and intensity of white blood activation, an 'off switch' to the cascade of messenger proteins that serve to further activate the immune system. ... Without IL-27, other brakes in the system are not sufficient to keep inflammation in check ... The more we understand the role of cytokines in the immune system, the more we realize that they are part of an elaborately balanced system kept in check by the conflicting regulatory functions of the cytokines themselves. ... It may be possible to use IL-27 or its active subunit in such a way that we can temper the immune system without suppressing the beneficial immune reactions."