Figure 5.

IL-10 treatment blocks activation and maturation of dendritic cells and monocytes. TLR ligands or proinflammatory cytokines stimulate MAPK cascades, MyD88- and PI3K/NF-κB-dependent signaling, which induce transcriptional processes resulting in activation and maturation of stimulated APC (left). Simultaneous treatment of these activated immune cells with IL-10 inhibits key molecules of the named pathways. MAPK- and MyD88-dependent signaling and NF-κB activation are directly or indirectly prevented by IL-10. This leads to an abrogation of transcriptional and post-translational processes or induction of inhibitory transcriptional mechanisms (right).