IL-10: A Multifunctional Cytokine in Viral Infections

Abstract

The anti-inflammatory master regulator IL-10 is critical to protect the host from tissue damage during acute phases of immune responses. This regulatory mechanism, central to T cell homeostasis, can be hijacked by viruses to evade immunity. IL-10 can be produced by virtually all immune cells, and it can also modulate the function of these cells. Understanding the effects of this multifunctional cytokine is therefore a complex task. In the present review we discuss the factors driving IL-10 production and the cellular sources of the cytokine during antiviral immune responses. We particularly focus on the IL-10 regulatory mechanisms that impact antiviral immune responses and how viruses can use this central regulatory pathway to evade immunity and establish chronic/latent infections.

Dietary supplementation with Clostridium butyricum helps to improve the intestinal barrier function of weaned piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88

“…; Chen ), whereas IL‐10 is an anti‐inflammatory master regulator in the intestine, protecting the host from tissue damage during acute phases of the immune response (Rojas et al . ). In the current experiment, consistent with improved intestinal integrity, dietary C. butyricum supplementation had no effect on IL‐1β and IL‐18 in jejunal mucosa and serum, but IL‐10 expression was increased in jejunal mucosa and serum.…”

TIGIT limits immune pathology during viral infections

“…IL-10 itself is a key regulator of immune responses during infections, where it plays a two-sided role by both promoting pathogen persistence [17][18][19] as well as limiting excessive Th1 and CD8 + T cell responses that cause immune pathology 20,21 . Incidentally, many chronic or latent human viruses have evolved to encode IL-10 homologs in order to evade immune control 22 . Nevertheless, the resolution of inflammatory processes relies on the tightly controlled balance between pro-inflammatory and regulatory immune responses, which is especially evident during the pathogenesis of neurotropic protozoa such as Plasmodium falciparum, Trypanosoma cruzi, or Toxoplasma gondii, where IL-10 signaling was demonstrated to restrict cytokine-mediated immune pathology 23,24 .…”

Interleukin-10 Modulation of Virus Clearance and Disease in Mice with Alphaviral Encephalomyelitis

“…Because Th1 cells and IFN-␥ suppress Th2 cells and production of IL-4, increases in IL-10 Ϫ/Ϫ mice may contribute to this defect. IL-10, along with IL-4, also plays an important role in isotype switching to IgG and B cell survival (31,59,60). Antibody is essential to viral clearance during alphaviral encephalomyelitis (12)(13)(14)(15)(16), and without Th2 cell activation, a mature B cell and antibody response cannot be induced.…”