Role of interleukin-35 in cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular disease represents a complex series of clinical syndromes with multiple aetiologies. Cardiovascular diseases have become one of the most common causes of death among middle-aged and elderly people worldwide because of their diverse types and wide range of patients. With the development of research in this field, increasing evidence shows that cytokines remain important to address in the beginning, progression and outcome of cardiovascular diseases. The interleukin (IL)-12 family, which includes IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and IL-35, is an important family of cytokines that plays roles in the regulation of chronic inflammation, tumour progression, autoimmune disease and cardiovascular disease. IL-12 family members have distinct pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects and affect the progression of cardiovascular disease all the time. In particular, the novel member of this family IL-35 has turned out to play a major part in the occurrence and development of various cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction and viral myocarditis. In this review, the source, structure, receptor, signal transduction and biological functions of IL-35 are summarized with a focus on the relationship with cardiovascular disease. We further discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms that may be involved in these effects to guide the development of new strategies targeting IL-35 for the prevention and clinical treatment of cardiovascular disease.