Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) is a potent stimulator of bone resorption whose gene is mapped to 2q14, and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of high bone turnover and osteoporosis. IL-1beta, a prominent microglia-derived cytokine, caused oligodendrocyte death in coculture with astrocytes and microglia, but not in pure culture of oligodendrocytes alone. It also can cause nuclear export of a specific NCOR corepressor complex, resulting in derepression of a specific subset of nuclear factor-kappa-B (NFKB)-regulated genes. Furthermore, Microenvironmental IL-1beta and, to a lesser extent, IL-1alpha are required for in vivo angiogenesis and invasiveness of different tumor cells. Additional, the cooperation of IL-1beta and PDGFB induces contractile-to-synthetic phenotype modulation of human aortic smooth muscle cells in culture. Moreover, the association with disease may be explained by the biologic properties of IL-1beta, which is an important proinflammatory cytokine and a powerful inhibitor of gastric acid secretion.