A critical role of interleukin-1 in preterm labor

•This work highlights the importance of interleukin-1 in human preterm labor, as well as efforts to identify safe and potent IL-1-targeting agents and diagnostics with high negative and positive predictive value to respectively treat and identify women at risk of preterm deliveries.•Tandem use of new diagnostics and therapies will incentivise development of effective clinical modalities to tackle this unmet medical need.

Preterm birth (PTB) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, and represents a heavy economic and social burden. Despite its broad etiology, PTB has been firmly linked to inflammatory processes. Pro-inflammatory cytokines are produced in gestational tissues in response to stressors and can prematurely induce uterine activation, which precedes the onset of preterm labor. Of all cytokines implicated, interleukin (IL)-1 has been largely studied, revealing a central role in preterm labor. However, currently approved IL-1-targeting therapies have failed to show expected efficacy in pre-clinical studies of preterm labor. Herein, we (a) summarize animal and human studies in which IL-1 or IL-1-targeting therapeutics are implicated with preterm labor, (b) focus on novel IL-1-targeting therapies and diagnostic tests, and (c) develop the case for commercialization and translation means to hasten their development.

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