IL-17 in Pneumonia: Cure or Corruption?

Maryam  Keyfari; Sara  Hemmati

doi:10.18502/igj.v7i4.17886

Maryam Keyfari Cancer Immunology Project Interest Group (CIP), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
Sara Hemmati Cancer Immunology Project Interest Group (CIP), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/igj.v7i4.17886

Keywords: IL-17; Pneumonia; IL-23; Respiratory Diseases

Abstract

As a pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-17 is important in the immune system against fungal and bacterial in-fections. The IL-17 cytokine family consists of six members that exert their effects by cooperating with fivereceptors that form the IL-17 receptor family. Although IL-17 is mainly a defensive factor, at times, overex-pression of this cytokine will lead to inflammatory and damaging outcomes.Pneumonia is a lower airway disease that can be caused by different agents. In this condition, IL-17 is secret-ed from different cells and can fight against infection or otherwise lead to progression of the disease. Thisarticle reviews the IL-17 role in pneumonia and different inflammatory pathways that it can affect.