[The effect of IL-1 receptor antagonist on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis].

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a cytokine with diverse biological activities. It can serve as a fibroblast (FB) growth factor which involves in the development of pulmonary fibrosis. IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) can compete with IL-1 for occupancy of surface receptors of target cells without agonist effect. In order to find a new method to treat pulmonary fibrosis, we investigated the effect of recombinant human IL-1ra on the development of pulmonary fibrosis by evaluating collagen content, histological change, and TGF-beta mRNA expression in the rats bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The results indicate are that there are no significant difference between the IL-1ra treated group and the control group.