Interleukin-13 Variant (IL-13), human recombinant (rHuIL-13)

Cytokine. Inhibits inflammatory cytokine production. Synergizes with IL2 in regulating interferon-gamma synthesis. May be critical in regulating inflammatory and immune responses. (www.uniprot.org) Human recombinant Interleukin-13 Variant produced in E.coli is a single, non-glycosylated polypeptide chain containing 114 amino acids, with a substitution of Q for R at position 112 compared with the wild type IL-13, having a molecular mass of 12.5 kDa. IL-13 is an immunoregulatory cytokine produced primarily by activated Th2 cells. IL-13 is involved in several stages of B-cell maturation and differentiation. It up-regulates CD23 and MHC class II expression, and promotes IgE isotype switching of B cells. This cytokine down-regulates macrophage activity, thereby inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This cytokine is found to be critical to the pathogenesis of allergen-induced asthma but operates through mechanisms independent of IgE and eosinophils. This gene, IL-3, IL-5, IL-4, and CSF2 form a cytokine gene cluster on chromosome 5q, with this gene particularly close to IL-4.