Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40529362›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in immunology2025

Role of interleukin-16 in human diseases: a novel potential therapeutic target.

Timothy B Niewold, Julia S Lehman, Iva Gunnarsson, Alexander Meves, Vilija Oke

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Downregulation ofBalkan medical journal · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Progress in Designing Cytokine Antagonist Antibodies for Cancer Therapy.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Timothy B NiewoldBarbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Disease, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States.
Julia S LehmanDepartment of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States.
Iva GunnarssonRheumatology Unit, Department of Meidicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Alexander MevesDepartment of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States.
Vilija OkeRheumatology Unit, Department of Meidicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Interleukin (IL)-16 is expressed mostly by the cells of the human immune system. Upon cell activation IL-16 is cleaved, forming two functional proteins, one regulating cell cycle and the other acting as chemoattractant for the cells carrying CD4 or CD9. Increased levels of IL-16 are found in the circulation and at the sites of inflammation, infection and cancer. Polymorphisms in the IL-16 gene have been coupled to several of these conditions and high IL-16 has been suggested as a disease biomarker. Using unbiased proteomic approach we and others independently identified IL-16 as a biomarker of severe lupus nephritis, and top-expressed cytokine in skin lesions of lupus erythematosus. Recently, an unbiased investigation identified IL-16 as a top candidate for novel drug target. Blockade of IL-16 showed positive therapeutic effects in several animal models of human disease with low rate of side effects. Importantly, it has been recently demonstrated that IL-16 can be released during pyroptosis, a proinflammatory cell death pathway. This finding disclosed a novel role of IL-16 as a mediator of response to the proinflammatory cell death and may explain why IL-16 is detected at the sites of inflammation, infection or cancer. In this review we cover the knowledge on the biology of IL-16 and its importance in human diseases. We aim that this manuscript will be informative and prove benefits of possible therapeutic blockade of IL-16.

Indexed as

Interleukin-16AnimalsBiomarkersHumansInflammationMolecular Targeted TherapyNeoplasmsPyroptosisBiomarkersInterleukin-16cancercytokine - immunological termsinfectioninflammationinterleukin-16tumor

Identifiers

PMID40529362
PMCPMC12171437

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.