Final answer:
IL-2, or Aldesleukin, is primarily used to treat multiple sclerosis, various cancers, and viral infections. It serves an important role in immunotherapy, enhancing the body's natural immune response to fight cancer. IL-2 is involved in treatments that boost anti-cancer activities and is used in advanced therapies like CAR T-cell therapy.
Step-by-step explanation:
IL-2, also known as Aldesleukin, is mainly used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, various cancers (e.g., melanoma), and viral infections (e.g., Hepatitis B and C). Interleukin-2 is a type of cytokine that plays a critical role in the body's immune response, aiding in the proliferation and activation of T lymphocytes. IL-2 has been utilized as a key component in immunotherapies designed to combat cancer by increasing the effectiveness of the immune system's anticancer responses, such as stimulating cytotoxic T cells and utilizing therapeutic vaccines to enhance the immune response against tumors.
As part of a broader range of immunotherapies, IL-2 is instrumental in treatments where cytokines boost the low natural anti-cancer activity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to levels where they can actively shrink tumors. Furthermore, IL-2 can be involved in cutting-edge treatments such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, where T lymphocytes from a cancer patient's blood are engineered to target cancer cells more effectively.