Current perspectives on the interleukin-1 family as targets for inflammatory disease.

Since the ?rst description of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and the genesis of the ?eld of cytokine biology, the understanding of how IL-1 and related cytokines play central orchestrat- ing roles in the in?ammatory response has been an area of intense investigation. As a consequence of these endeavours, speci?c strategies have been developed to target the function of the IL-1 family in human disease realizing signi?cant impacts for patients. While the most signi?cant advances to date have been associated with inhibition of the prototypical family members IL-1?/?, approaches to target more recently identi?ed family members such as IL-18, IL-33 and the IL-36 subfamily are now beginning to come to fruition. This review summarizes current knowledge surrounding the roles of the IL- 1 family in human disease and describes the rationale and strategies which have been developed to target these cytokines to inhibit the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases in which in?ammation plays a centrally important role