IL37
Description
The IL37 (interleukin 37) is a protein-coding gene located on chromosome 2.
Interleukin 37 (IL-37), also known as Interleukin-1 family member 7 (IL-1F7), is an anti-inflammatory cytokine important for downregulating pro-inflammatory cytokine production and suppressing tumor cell growth. The IL-37 gene is located on the long chromosome arm of chromosome 2 in humans. No homologous gene has been found in the mouse genome. IL-37 undergoes alternative splicing, producing 5 different splice variants (IL-37a-e) depending on which of the 6 possible exons are expressed. IL-37b is the largest and most studied variant and shares the beta barrel structure common to the interleukin-1 family. IL-37a,b,c are expressed in various tissues including the thymus, lung, colon, uterus, and bone marrow. It is produced by immune cells involved in the immune inflammation response, such as natural killer cells, activated B lymphocytes, circulating blood monocytes, tissue macrophages, keratinocytes, and epithelial cells. Some IL-37 isoforms are tissue-specific and vary in length depending on the expressed exons: IL-37a is found in the brain, contains exons 3, 4, 5, and 6, and is 192 amino acids long. IL-37b is found in the kidney, bone marrow, blood, skin, respiratory, and urogenital tract.
IL-37 is an immune regulatory cytokine that suppresses innate inflammatory and immune responses, helping to control excessive inflammation. It signals through two pathways: intracellularly by interacting with SMAD3 and translocating to the nucleus, and extracellularly by binding to its receptor, a complex of IL18R1 and IL18RAP, after secretion. IL-37 reduces the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL1A, IL6, CCL12, CSF1, CSF2, CXCL13, IL1B, IL23A, and IL1RN, while preserving anti-inflammatory cytokines. It also inhibits dendritic cell activation.
IL37 is also known as FIL1, FIL1(ZETA), FIL1Z, IL-1F7, IL-1H, IL-1H4, IL-1RP1, IL-23, IL-37, IL1F7, IL1H4, IL1RP1.
