Regulation of interleukin-18 (IL-18) expression in keratinocytes (HaCaT): implications for early wound healing.

Keratinocytes display a high basal level expression of IL-18. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) mediated a large decrease in IL-18 mRNA levels in the human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT, which was accompanied by a subsequent accumulation of IL-18 protein in the cell culture supernatants, which was shown to be biologically active. By contrast, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), respectively,...