Interleukin 18

Interleukin 18 (interferon-gamma-inducing factor)
Solution structure of human IL-18
Available structures: 1j0s
Identifiers
Symbol(s)	IL18; IGIF; IL-18; IL-1g; IL1F4; MGC12320
External IDs	OMIM: 600953 MGI: 107936 Homologene: 1200
Gene Ontology Molecular Function: • signal transducer activity • interleukin-1 receptor binding Cellular Component: • extracellular region • extracellular space Biological Process: • angiogenesis • immune response • cell-cell signaling • induction of apoptosis via death domain receptors • regulation of cell adhesion • sleep • chemokine biosynthetic process • T-helper 1 type immune response • T-helper 2 type immune response • interleukin-2 biosynthetic process • interferon-gamma biosynthetic process • positive regulation of activated T cell proliferation • interleukin-13 biosynthetic process • granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor biosynthetic process
RNA expression pattern
Additional recommended knowledge Essential Laboratory Skills Guide Weighing the right way Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps More reference expression data
Orthologs
	Human	Mouse
Entrez	3606	16173
Ensembl	ENSG00000150782	ENSMUSG00000039217
Uniprot	Q14116	A0PJ18
Refseq	NM_001562 (mRNA) NP_001553 (protein)	NM_008360 (mRNA) NP_032386 (protein)
Location	Chr 11: 111.52 - 111.54 Mb	Chr 9: 50.33 - 50.33 Mb
Pubmed search	[1]	[2]

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a cytokine produced by macrophages and other cells that belongs to the IL-1 superfamily. IL-18 works together with IL-12 to induce cell-mediated immunity following infection with microbial products like lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After stimulation with IL-18, natural killer (NK) cells and certain T cells release another important cytokine called interferon-γ (IFN-γ) or type II interferon that plays an important role in activating the macrophages or other cells. Apart from its physiological role, IL-18 is also able to induce severe inflammatory reactions, which suggests its role in certain inflammatory disorders.

The protein encoded by this gene is a proinflammatory cytokine. This cytokine can induce the IFN-gamma production of T cells. The combination of this cytokine and IL12 has been shown to inhibit IL4 dependent IgE and IgG1 production, and enhance IgG2a production of B cells. IL-18 binding protein (IL18BP) can specifically interact with this cytokine, and thus negatively regulate its biological activity.^[1]

References

Further reading