https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.13338
Member of a group of immunoregulatory glycoproteins, also called lymphokines, monokines, or cytokines.
Notes:
- General features are low molecular mass (about \(\pu{80 kDa}\)) and frequent glycosylation; regulation of immune cell function and inflammation by binding to specific cell surface receptors; transient and local production; action in paracrine, autocrine, or endocrine manner, with stimulatory or blocking effect on growth/differentiation; very potent, function at picomolar concentrations.
- Interleukins represent an extensive series of mediators with a wide range of overlapping functions. Other mediators in this series are c-kit ligand, interferons (IFNs), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), and a family of low relative molecular mass mediators, called chemokines.