白细胞介素21在心血管系统疾病中的研究进展

Research progress of interleukin-21 in cardiovascular diseases

白细胞介素21(interleukin-21,IL-21)是一种Ⅰ型细胞因子,属于γ链(γ-chain,γc)复合受体型细胞因子家族成员[1],主要由滤泡辅助性T细胞(T follicu-lar helper cells,Tfh cells)、辅助性T细胞17(T helper 17 cells,Th17 cells)和自然杀伤(natural killer,NK)细胞产生[2],对天然免疫反应和获得性免疫反应均有多效性作用[3]。目前心血管疾病的发病率逐年上升[4],临床确认慢性炎症是心血管疾病的关键因素[5],但其具体机制尚不完全清楚.

Interleukin-21(IL-21)is a type I cytokine,which belongs to theγ-chain cytokine family,specifi-cally produced by T helper 17(Th17)cells,T follicular helper(Tfh)cells and natural killer(NK)cells.In recent years,more and more studies have demonstrated that IL-21 has an interesting relationship with various cardiovascular diseases,including hypertension,pulmonary arterial hypertension and so on,and IL-21 signaling may play an important role in car-diovascular diseases.Here,we summarize the related research on the source,function and regulation of IL-21 and the roles of IL-21 signaling in cardiovascular diseases.