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Interleukin-31

IL31
Identifiers
Aliases IL31, IL-31, interleukin 31
External IDs OMIM: 609509 HomoloGene: 88541 GeneCards: IL31
Gene location (Human)
Chromosome 12 (human)
Chr. Chromosome 12 (human)
Chromosome 12 (human)
Genomic location for IL31
Genomic location for IL31
Band 12q24.31 Start 122,172,030 bp
End 122,174,199 bp
Orthologs
Species Human Mouse
Entrez
Ensembl
UniProt
RefSeq (mRNA)

NM_001014336

n/a

RefSeq (protein)

NP_001014358

n/a

Location (UCSC) Chr 12: 122.17 – 122.17 Mb n/a
PubMed search n/a

NM_001014336

n/a

NP_001014358

n/a

Interleukin-31 (IL-31) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL31 gene that resides on chromosome 12. IL-31 is an inflammatory cytokine that helps trigger cell-mediated immunity against pathogens. It has also been identified as a major player in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis.

IL-31 is produced by a variety of cells, namely type 2 helper (TH2) T-cells. IL-31 sends signals through a receptor complex made of IL-31RA and oncostatin M receptor β (OSMRβ) expressed in immune and epithelial cells. These signals activate three pathways: ERK1/2 MAP kinase, PI3K/AKT, and JAK1/2 signaling pathways.

IL-31 is a cytokine with an anti-parallel four-helix bundle structure in the gp130/IL-6 cytokine family. This family includes IL-6, IL-11, IL-27, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), oncostatin M (OSM), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), cardiotrophin-like cytokine (CLC), and neuropoietin (NP). The anti-parallel bundles that these proteins form have an "up-up-down-down" topology, which is a relevant structure regarding the cytokine binding to their respective receptor complex. The cytokines in the IL-6 family signal through type I cytokine receptors. Type I cytokine receptors are defined by sharing their cytokine binding domain (CBD) with conserved cysteine residues and a conserved WSxWS motif in the extracellular domain. The receptors form heteromeric complexes that usually contain the glycoprotein 130 (gp130), which is important for activating downstream signaling pathways. IL-31 is unique in this family of cytokines because its receptor complex does not contain gp130. The receptor for IL-31 is a heterodimer of the interleukin 31 receptor alpha (IL-31RA) and OSMR. IL-31RA was originally referred to as GLM-R (for gp130-like monocyte receptor) or GPL (for gp130-like receptor). Although the IL-31 receptor complex lacks gp130, IL-31RA has similarities to gp130 like its previous descriptors suggest.


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