Grant: Operating Grant

Cytokines of the IL-6 family are mediators released in large amounts at sites of infection or injury. They induce and control the protective body responses such as fever, recruitment and activation of immune cells. These cytokines play also important roles in pathologies involving undesirable local inflammation such as multiple sclerosis or uncontrolled immune cell proliferation such as multiple myeloma. We study a new composite cytokine of the IL-6 family, p28/CLF. We identified p28/CLF receptor and characterized p28/CLF biological activities. Our observations suggest that p28/CLF could have beneficial anti-inflammatory functions. We will investigate the effects of p28/CLF in models of multiple sclerosis and multiple myeloma. New therapies that could improve treatments would be helpful for both pathologies: multiple sclerosis remains difficult to control and can result in patient disability. Multiple myeloma is the second most common hematological cancer and current median survival times of patients are only 3-5 years.