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Medicina
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14 February 2019

IL33/ST2 Axis in Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Literature Review

,
and
1
National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR-IFC), Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
2
School and Operative Unit of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbohydrate and Insulin Metabolism in Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family, playing a role in inflammatory, infectious and autoimmune diseases and expressed in the cellular nucleus in several tissues. High levels of IL-33 are expressed in epithelial barrier tissues and endothelial barriers. ST2 is a receptor for IL-33, expressed selectively on a subset of Th2 cells, mediating some of their functions. The IL-33/ST2 axis plays an important role in several acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, including asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Different disorders are related to the activity of IL-33, ST2, or their axis, including cardiovascular disease or renal disturbances. Therefore, in the present work, a literature review was conducted, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 30 November 2018, in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar database, to assess the involvement of the IL-33/ST2 axis in diabetic kidney disease. 6 articles directly dealing with the argument were identified, highlighting a clear link between IL-33/ST2 axis and diabetic kidney disease or related nephropathy. Overall, the involvement of ST2 seems to be more predictive than IL-33, especially in investigating the deterioration of kidney function; however, both compounds are pivotal in the field of renal diseases. Future studies are required to confirm the scientific evidences on larger and more heterogeneous cohorts.

1. Introduction

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) represents a recently discovered cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family, and plays a major role in inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune diseases [1]. It is expressed as a nuclear alarmin in the nucleus of endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and epithelial cells in several tissues. Its role as an alarmin is pivotal in individuating damages in several inflammatory conditions, including atopic dermatitis and skin diseases [2,3]. It is released to the extracellular space in response to mechanical stress or cellular injury, and it elicits inflammatory responses. High levels of IL-33 are expressed in epithelial barrier tissues and endothelial barriers [4,5]. ST2 is a receptor for IL-33 and a member of the overall IL-1 receptor family. It is expressed selectively by many immune cells involved in type-2 immune response, including the group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), mast cells, Th2 cells, eosinophils, basophils, as well as dendritic cells [6,7]. ILC2 recruitment is strongly related to the activity of IL-33, with their role being central in immunity against pathogens, type 2 inflammation, and tissue homeostasis and repair [8]. In this domain, IL-33 induces IL-5 and IL-13 release by ILC2, playing a key-role in the framework of allergic inflammation, including asthma and atopic dermatitis [9,10].
When it bonds with the ST2 receptor, IL-33 promotes the activation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase, leading to an increased transcription of Th2 cytokines [11]. Therefore, it appears evident that the IL-33/ST2 axis mainly induces Th2 cytokines, differently from what occurs with other IL-1 family cytokines. Overall, this axis plays a key-role in several acute and chronic inflammatory diseases [12,13,14], including asthma [7] and rheumatoid arthritis [15].
In a human, IL-33 is expressed in human secondary lymphoid tissues, including the lymph nodes and appendix, and is spread along the vascular tree (large and small blood vessels from normal tissues, including the liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, and prostate, despite the micro-circulation of the brain and kidney glomeruli) [16]. Several literature works have highlighted the broad expression of IL-33 in normal, tumor, and chronically inflamed human tissues [16,17], confirming their significant expression in the kidneys [18,19].
Overall, apparently different disorders are related to the activity of IL-33, ST2 or their axis, including cardiovascular diseases [20], or renal disturbances, like chronic kidney disease (CKD), an immune inflammatory disease whose function is related to the presence of inflammatory biomarkers as much as the kidney function declines [21,22] (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Interleukin-33 (IL-33)/ST2 signaling in renal injury (modified from [5]).
So far, it is well known that diabetes is closely related to kidney disorders, being the most common cause of end-stage renal disease [23], with hyperglycemia-induced hemodynamic and metabolic pathways as the mediators of kidney injury [24].
Given the widespread diffusion of renal diseases and diabetes worldwide and, consequently, the high impact such diseases have on society and on healthcare systems, we performed a literature review about the IL-33/ST2 axis involvement in diabetic kidney disease or related nephropathy. This review is mainly focused on the pathophysiological outcome of the mentioned axis in the relevant disorders.

4. Conclusions

Despite the relatively low number of studies published to date, the link between IL-33/ST2 axis and diabetic kidney disease, appears to be more clear, with significant correlations with the disease stage. The ST2 involvement appears to be more predictive than IL-33, especially in investigating the deterioration of kidney function; however, both compounds are pivotal in this topic, with future studies confirming the scientific evidences on larger and more heterogeneous cohorts.

Author Contributions

Literature search, A.T., P.Q.; conceptualization, A.T., S.G.; bias assessment, A.T., P.Q.; study selection, A.T., P.Q., S.G.; manuscript drafting, A.T., P.Q., S.G.; critical revision and approval of the manuscript, all authors.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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