Scientists Discover New Drug Target for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Cytokine (IL-23), Department of Gastroenterology at The Shanghai Tenth People's Study

EurekAlert! -- A new discovery published in the April 2011 issue of Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) raises hope that new treatments for illnesses like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are on the horizon. That's because they've identified IL-23, a cytokine used by the immune system to ward off disease, as a major contributor to the inflammation that is the hallmark of these illnesses. With this information, it is now possible to develop new treatments that stop or reduce the damaging effects of IL-23, potentially bringing relief to millions of people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and possibly other inflammatory illnesses as well.

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