Elevated Serum IL-17B in Children with Severe Pneumonia and Mediates IL-6 Expression in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells
ZHOU Jie, ZENG Qiuli, CHEN Dapeng*
IL-17B belongs to IL-17 family and is involved in a variety of inflammatory diseases, but the role of IL-17B in regulating pulmonary inflammation in lung diseases is still unknown. Serum IL-17B concentration in children with severe pneumonia was significantly higher than healthy control group. To further investigate the relationship between IL-17B and pulmonary inflammation, IL-17B was applied to human bronchial epithelial cells. The results showed that remarkably elevated IL-6 was measured in the supernatant of bronchial epithelial cells stimulated with IL-17B in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Subsequently, inhibitors of signaling pathways were used for screening related pathways and these results were further validated by Western blot. Our results indicated that IL-17B could upregulate IL-6 production by activating p38 MAPK, ERK, JAK and NF-κB pathways in human bronchial epithelial cells. Moreover, serum level of IL-6 was significantly higher in children with severe pneumonia than healthy control group. In addition, we found increased level of IL-17B positively correlated with IL-6 in children with severe pneumonia. In conclusion, IL-17B could upregulate of IL-6 thereby promoting immune responses in children pneumonia, which might shed light for the development of cytokine-based treatment of children pneumonia.
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