Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Nov 19:2021:8214656.
doi: 10.1155/2021/8214656. eCollection 2021.

IL-18: The Forgotten Cytokine in Dengue Immunopathogenesis

Josephine Diony Nanda  1 , Tzong-Shiann Ho  2   3 , Rahmat Dani Satria  4   5   6 , Ming-Kai Jhan  7   8 , Yung-Ting Wang  7 , Chiou-Feng Lin  1   7   8
Affiliations
Review

IL-18: The Forgotten Cytokine in Dengue Immunopathogenesis

Josephine Diony Nanda et al. J Immunol Res. .

Abstract

Dengue fever is an infection by the dengue virus (DENV) transmitted by vector mosquitoes. It causes many infections in tropical and subtropical countries every year, thus posing a severe disease threat. Cytokine storms, one condition where many proinflammatory cytokines are mass-produced, might lead to cellular dysfunction in tissue/organ failures and often facilitate severe dengue disease in patients. Interleukin- (IL-) 18, similar to IL-1β, is a proinflammatory cytokine produced during inflammation following inflammasome activation. Inflammatory stimuli, including microbial infections, damage signals, and cytokines, all induce the production of IL-18. High serum IL-18 is remarkably correlated with severely ill dengue patients; however, its possible roles have been less explored. Based on the clinical and basic findings, this review discusses the potential immunopathogenic role of IL-18 when it participates in DENV infection and dengue disease progression based on existing findings and related past studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The mechanism of action of IL-18-facilitated inflammatory responses in various immune cells and its possible effects.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The actions of IL-18 in host immune responses to DENV infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO. Dengue and severe dengue: World Health Organization. 2021, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue.
    1. Daep C. A., Muñoz-Jordán J. L., Eugenin E. A. Flaviviruses, an expanding threat in public health: focus on dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis virus. Journal of Neurovirology . 2014;20(6):539–560. doi: 10.1007/s13365-014-0285-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ekwudu O. M., Marquart L., Webb L., et al. Effect of serotype and strain diversity on dengue virus replication in Australian mosquito vectors. Pathogens . 2020;9(8):p. 668. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9080668. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holmes E. C., Twiddy S. S. The origin, emergence and evolutionary genetics of dengue virus. Infection, Genetics and Evolution . 2003;3(1):19–28. doi: 10.1016/S1567-1348(03)00004-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bhatt S., Gething P. W., Brady O. J., et al. The global distribution and burden of dengue. Nature . 2013;496(7446):504–507. doi: 10.1038/nature12060. - DOI - PMC - PubMed