Interleukins
From WikiLectures
The humoral signaling molecules that cells of the immune system use to communicate with each other are called cytokines. A very important group of cytokines are the interleukins (ILs). These are mostly short peptide chains. Their effects are both autocrine, paracrine and endocrine. They serve as humoral communication between specific immunity and natural immunity cells. They are produced mostly by helper T-ly, APCs and macrophages.
Function overview[edit | edit source]
Interleukins have very different functions. An overview of the most important ones is given in the table.
| IL-1 | initiates inflammation response (fever), activates other cells |
| IL-2 | activates T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils |
| IL-3 | promotes proliferation of white blood cells (myeloid and lymphoid progenitor cells) - see |
| IL-4 | Th2-ly subset support, plasma cell maturation and antibody class switching |
| IL-5 | promotion of proliferation and differentiation of eosinophils and T-ly |
| IL-6 | systemic inflammatory response (fever), promotion of T-ly, B-ly |
| IL-7 | proliferation and differentiation of lymphoid cells in the thymus |
| IL-8 | chemotactic effects |
| IL-10 | suppression of inflammatory response, promotion of Th2-ly subset |
| IL-12 | increasing cytotoxicity (NK cells, Th1-ly, macrophages, neutrophils) |
| IL-13 | attenuation of inflammatory reaction, inhibition of cytokine production |
Links[edit | edit source]
Related articles[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- ŠTERZL, Ivan, et al. Základy imunologie. 1. edition. Praha : Karolinum, 2005. ISBN 80-246-0972-X.
