白细胞介素37（IL-37）是IL-1家族中新发现的成员。细胞因子自发现以来，被证明对传染病、过敏性疾病、代谢性疾病、自身免疫性疾病和肿瘤等具有广泛的保护作用。 IL-37主要由免疫细胞和一些非免疫细胞响应炎症刺激而产生。 IL-37前体在细胞内经caspase-1裂解和激活后转化为成熟形式，然后与Smad-3结合并转移至细胞核，抑制促炎细胞因子的产生和功能；在细胞外，IL-37与细胞表面受体结合形成IL-37/IL-18Rα/IL-1R8复合物，通过抑制/激活多种信号通路发挥免疫抑制功能。此外，IL-37可以通过直接或形成IL-37/IL-18BP/IL-18Rβ复合物来减弱IL-18的促炎作用。因此，IL-37具有抑制宿主先天性和获得性免疫、有效控制炎症刺激的能力，被认为是癌症的新标志。具体来说，IL-37可以抑制肿瘤细胞的生长和迁移，抑制血管生成，介导肿瘤微环境的免疫调节，从而发挥有效的抗肿瘤作用。重要的是，最新研究还表明 IL-37 可能是癌症监测的新治疗靶点。在这篇综述中，我们总结了IL-37在抗肿瘤过程中的免疫调节作用和机制，并讨论了其迄今为止的进展和作为肿瘤免疫治疗的潜力。版权所有©2023顾，金，高，夏，徐和潘。

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) is a newly discovered member of IL-1 family. The cytokine was proved to have extensive protective effects in infectious diseases, allergic diseases, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases and tumors since its discovery. IL-37 was mainly produced by immune and some non-immune cells in response to inflammatory stimulus. The IL-37 precursors can convert into the mature forms after caspase-1 cleavage and activation intracellularly, and then bind to Smad-3 and transfer to the nucleus to inhibit the production and functions of proinflammatory cytokines; extracellularly, IL-37 binds to cell surface receptors to form IL-37/IL-18Rα/IL-1R8 complex to exert immunosuppressive function via inhibiting/activating multiple signal pathways. In addition, IL-37 can attenuate the pro-inflammatory effect of IL-18 through directly or forming an IL-37/IL-18BP/IL-18Rβ complex. Therefore, IL-37 has the ability to suppress innate and acquired immunity of the host, and effectively control inflammatory stimulation, which was considered as a new hallmark of cancer. Specifically, it is concluded that IL-37 can inhibit the growth and migration of tumor cells, prohibit angiogenesis and mediate the immunoregulation in tumor microenvironment, so as to exert effective anti-tumor effects. Importantly, latest studies also showed that IL-37 may be a novel therapeutic target for cancer monitoring. In this review, we summarize the immunoregulation roles and mechanisms of IL-37 in anti-tumor process, and discuss its progress so far and potential as tumor immunotherapy.Copyright © 2023 Gu, Jin, Gao, Xia, Xu and Pan.