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Review
. 2019 Feb 14;55(2):50.
doi: 10.3390/medicina55020050.

IL33/ST2 Axis in Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Literature Review

Alessandro Tonacci  1 , Paolina Quattrocchi  2 , Sebastiano Gangemi  3
Affiliations
Review

IL33/ST2 Axis in Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Literature Review

Alessandro Tonacci et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family, playing a role in inflammatory, infectious and autoimmune diseases and expressed in the cellular nucleus in several tissues. High levels of IL-33 are expressed in epithelial barrier tissues and endothelial barriers. ST2 is a receptor for IL-33, expressed selectively on a subset of Th2 cells, mediating some of their functions. The IL-33/ST2 axis plays an important role in several acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, including asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Different disorders are related to the activity of IL-33, ST2, or their axis, including cardiovascular disease or renal disturbances. Therefore, in the present work, a literature review was conducted, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 30 November 2018, in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar database, to assess the involvement of the IL-33/ST2 axis in diabetic kidney disease. 6 articles directly dealing with the argument were identified, highlighting a clear link between IL-33/ST2 axis and diabetic kidney disease or related nephropathy. Overall, the involvement of ST2 seems to be more predictive than IL-33, especially in investigating the deterioration of kidney function; however, both compounds are pivotal in the field of renal diseases. Future studies are required to confirm the scientific evidences on larger and more heterogeneous cohorts.

Keywords: IL-33; ST2; alarmin; chronic kidney disease; diabetes mellitus; renal disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Interleukin-33 (IL-33)/ST2 signaling in renal injury (modified from [5]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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