A beneficial role for IL-1β in Alzheimer disease?

Abstract

While the term neuroinflammation often conjures up images of cellular damage, mounting evidence suggests that certain proinflammatory molecules, such as the cytokine IL-1β, may have beneficial and protective effects. In a report in this issue of the JCI, Shaftel and coworkers have generated an elegant mouse model in which local hippocampal overexpression of IL-1β in an Alzheimer disease (AD) transgenic mouse model resulted not in the expected exacerbation of the amyloid β plaque deposition common to AD, but instead in plaque amelioration (see the related article beginning on page 1595). Thus, manipulation of the immune system may be a potential therapeutic approach to protect against AD, although further studies are needed to understand all of the downstream effects of this manipulation.