TY - JOUR AU - Solaymani-Mohammadi, Shahram AU - Eckmann, Lars AU - Singer, Steven M. PY - 2019 M3 - Review TI - Interleukin (IL)-21 in Inflammation and Immunity During Parasitic Diseases JO - Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2019.00401 VL - 9 SN - 2235-2988 N2 - Parasitic diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality in the developing and underdeveloped countries. No efficacious vaccines are available against most parasitic diseases and there is a critical need for developing novel vaccine strategies for care. IL-21 is a pleiotropic cytokine whose functions in protection and immunopathology during parasitic diseases have been explored in limited ways. IL-21 and its cognate receptor, IL-21R, are highly expressed in parasitized organs of infected humans as well in murine models of the human parasitic diseases. Prior studies have indicated the ability of the IL-21/IL-21R signaling axis to regulate the effector functions (e.g., cytokine production) of T cell subsets by enhancing the expression of T-bet and STAT4 in human T cells, resulting in an augmented production of IFN-γ. Mice deficient for either IL-21 (Il21−/−) or IL-21R (Il21r−/−) showed significantly reduced inflammatory responses following parasitic infections as compared with their WT counterparts. Targeting the IL-21/IL-21R signaling axis may provide a novel approach for the development of new therapeutic agents for the prevention of parasite-induced immunopathology and tissue destruction. ER -