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Interleukins

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Moving on to another therapeutic classe, interferon, I mean interleukins, sorry. Interleukins also belong to a group of cytokines, and they are expressed by white blood cells by the leukocytes, and serve as a means of communication. And that’s where the “inter-“ comes from so interleukins is in between the white blood cells, communicating between the white blood cells. The interferon, interleukins function through the involvement in directing other immune cells, to proliferate and differentiate. They have multiple modes of actions including controlling the cell growth and modulating thrombopoiesis and the other immune activities. In human we have IL2 to IL-35, and the commonly found in human is one through seven. And i’m sure more will come later or will be discovered later.
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Just as an example, biological activities of interleukins 6 IL-6. And once produced, as you can tell, it controls differentiation; it controls proliferation; it controls growth inhibition; or app expression in the liver; or hepatocyte regeneration in the liver or even hematopoiesis. So you won’t be surprised if anyone or combination of pathways lead to the discovery of a new biologics in the future. Interleukin products. Okay,
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Interleukin itself or the antagonist that is the agonist or the antagonist. Proleukin, for example, is the IL-2 agonist. And it’s used for the treatment of metastatic renal carcinoma. Neumega, it’s an IL-11 agonist. And it is a thrombopoietic factor to stimulate platelet production. Anakinra, on the other hand, is an IL-2 receptor antagonist, okay. And it’s used for DMARD resistant rheumatoid arthritis. And the the next one is Sterala. It’s a new or relatively new interleukin approved in 2014. It’s a IL-12, IL-23 antagonist. And is indicate for psoriasis. And these are the interleukin products. Proleukin and the Kineret which come in pre-filled syringe for rheumatoid arthritis indication.

Interleukins are a subset of a larger group of cellular messenger molecules called cytokines, which modulates various cellular functions. Interleukins are not stored within cells but are secreted rapidly and briefly in response to a stimulus, such as an infectious agent. Like interferons, interleukins have a broad spectrum of therapeutic applications. Interleukin immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that stimulates the body’s immune system to fight melanoma (e.g., IL-2 agonist aldesleukin). On the other hand, interleukin inhibitors (Stelera, Taltz) are indicated for rheumatoid arthritis and plaque psoriasis, two prevalent autoimmune conditions.

Image for interleukin signaling pathway is depicted in the sketch for IL-6 The most recent comprehensive classification of interleukins from IL-1 to IL-38 uses a combination of sequence homology, receptor chain similarities, and functional properties. Interleukin products are divided into two categories, IL-agonist and IL-antagonist. For example, Aldesleukin (Proleukin) is an IL-2 agonist, an orphan drug indicated for metastatic renal carcinoma; and Anakinra (Kineret) is an IL-1 receptor antagonist Indicated for DMARD-resistant rheumatoid arthritis Another popular use of interleukin products is for plaque psoriasis, including inhibitors of IL-17 (brodalumab, ixekizumab, and secukinumab), IL-23 (guselkumab), or IL-12/23 (ustekinumab). The biosimilar interleukin market is attractive because of patent expiration of original interleukins and their increasing use in skin care (skin psoriasis)

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Pharmacotherapy: Understanding Biotechnology Products

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