Mini Sample Mouse IL-18 (Interleukin 18) ELISA Kit (E-MSEL-M0111)

This ELISA kit uses the Sandwich-ELISA principle. The micro ELISA plate provided in this kit has been pre-coated with an antibody specific to IL-18 . Standards or samples are added to the micro ELISA plate wells and combined with the specific antibody. Then a biotinylated detection antibody specific for IL-18 and Avidin-Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) conjugate are added successively to each micro plate well and incubated. Free components are washed away. The substrate solution is added to each well. Only those wells that contain IL-18 , biotinylated detection antibody and Avidin-HRP conjugate will appear blue in color. The enzyme-substrate reaction is terminated by the addition of stop solution and the color turns yellow. The optical density (OD) is measured spectrophotometrically at a wavelength of 450 nm ± 2 nm. The OD value is proportional to the concentration of IL-18 . You can calculate the concentration of IL-18 in the samples by comparing the OD of the samples to the standard curve.

Interleukin 18 (IL-18), also known as interferon-gamma-inducing factor (IGIF) and IL-1 gamma, is a cytokine which shares biologic activities with IL-12 and structural similarities with the IL-1 family of proteins. IL-18 was originally cloned from liver cells and has since been shown to be expressed by monocyte/macrophages, osteoblasts and keratinocytes. Caspase-1 (IL-1 beta-converting enzyme) has been implicated in the physiological processing of pro-IL-18 to IL-18. Similarly to IL-12, human IL-18 has been shown to enhance NK cell activity in PBMC cultures. Human IL-18 has also been found to induce the production IFN-gamma and GM-CSF while inhibiting the production of IL-10 by PBMC. On enriched human T cells, human IL-18 can enhance Th1 cytokine production and stimulate cell proliferation via an IL-2-dependent pathway. In the mouse system, IL-18 has been shown to be a costimulatory factor for the activation of Th1, but not Th2, cells. IL-18 was found to selectively enhance the FasL-mediated cytotoxicity of Th1, but not Th0 or Th2, cells. IL-18 has also been shown to induce activated B cells to produce IFN-gamma that inhibits IgE production.