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Interleukin-12

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Cancer Therapeutic Targets

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Abstract

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a heterodimeric cytokine and is a member of the larger family of IL-12-related cytokines. The other members of the IL-12 family include IL-23, IL-27, and IL-35. While IL-12 shares numerous structural features and molecular receptors with other members of its family, IL-12 is functionally unique (Vignali and Kuchroo, Nat Immunol 13:722–728, 2012). IL-12 was first recovered from an Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell line in 1989 as “natural killer-stimulating factor” (Kobayashi et al., J Exp Med 170:827–845, 1989). The following year, a separate group independently discovered IL-12 as “cytotoxic lymphocyte maturation factor” (Stern et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 87:6808, 1990). Since its discovery, a tremendous amount of research has been conducted to characterize the physiologic function of IL-12 and assess therapeutic potential of agonist and antagonistic targeting of IL-12 for the treatment of a variety of diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Surgical Oncology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, 195 Little Albany Street, Room 2004, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Howard L. Kaufman & Neal Dharmadhikari

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  1. Howard L. Kaufman
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  2. Neal Dharmadhikari
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Correspondence to Howard L. Kaufman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology & Oncology, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    John L. Marshall

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Kaufman, H.L., Dharmadhikari, N. (2017). Interleukin-12. In: Marshall, J. (eds) Cancer Therapeutic Targets. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0717-2_144

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