Regulation of Human Monocyte Functions by Interleukin-10

Monocytes and macrophages play an important role in the immune system through their cytotoxic activity, production of mediators and cytokines, ability to phagocytose native and opsonised antigens and pre-sentation of antigenic peptides to T cells. These functions of monocytes/ macrophages are influenced by the action of several cytokines: IFN-γ, GM-CSF, M-CSF and TNF-α activate monocytes, whereas IL-4, IL-13, TGFβ and IL-10 are potent monocyte deactivators. IL-10 plays a major role as dampener of immune responses through its deactivating potential of monocyte/macrophage functions.1,2,3 The activities of IL-10 on mono-cyte functions are the subject of this chapter.