Fig. 7. The role and molecular mechanism of IL-38 in respiratory viral infection.
IL-38 was able to alleviate inflammatory responses in vitro by inhibiting poly(I:C)-induced over production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines through intracellular STAT1, STAT3, p38 MAPK, ERK1/2, MEK and NF-κB signaling pathways. IL-38 targeted genes were associated with host innate immune response to virus in vitro. In animal study, IL-38 could mitigate poly(I:C)-induced lung injury by suppressing inflammatory responses by upregulating Treg cells but downregulating Th1, Th17, NK, NKT and γδ T cells.