ABSTRACT
The pleiotropic effects of interleukin 10 (IL-10) are at the basis of the controversy about its role in the control of innate and adaptive immune responses where it could play in different experimental or pathological conditions an anti-or a pro-inflammatory func tion. This dualism is particularly evident in the context of cancer growth regulation; on one hand IL-10 may be an important growth factor for cancer cells. On the other hand it may modulate the tumor microenvironment by inducing tolerance of cancer cells through limita tion of adaptive immune responses and at the same time increasing cancer cell destruction by promoting innate immune effector mechanisms. The literature about the role of IL-10 in can cer reflects, therefore, this conflict by presenting at the same time evidence of immune toler ance induced by IL-10 in several in vitro models and the contrasting observation in in vivo experimental and clinical setting of possible anti-cancer effects.
