Interleukin-2 in the pathogenesis of perinatal white matter damage.

Proinflammatory cytokines were reported to be implicated in the pathogenesis of perinatal white matter lesions. The authors document for the first time the in situ detection of interleukin-2 and interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) in these human white matter lesions. These results suggest that interleukin-2, reported to be toxic to oligodendrocytes and myelin, could play a role in the molecular cascade leading to white matter damage in periventricular leukomalacia.