Interleukin 29 (IL29)

Interleukin-29 (IL-29) is a protein of the helical cytokine family and is a type III interferon. It is also known as IFN lambda1 and is highly similar in amino acid sequence to the IL-28, the other type III interferon.

IL-29 is a cytokine distantly related to type I interferons and the IL-10 family. This gene, interleukin 28A (IL28A), and interleukin 28B (IL28B) are three closely related cytokine genes that form a cytokine gene cluster on a chromosomal region mapped to 19q13. Expression of the cytokines encoded by the three genes can be induced by viral infection. All three cytokines have been shown to interact with a heterodimeric class II cytokine receptor that consists of interleukin 10 receptor, beta (IL10RB) and interleukin 28 receptor, alpha (IL28RA).