Interleukin 16

Interleukin 16
250px PDB rendering based on 1i16.
Available structures PDB Ortholog search: PDBe, RCSB List of PDB id codes 1I16, 1X6D
Identifiers
Symbols	IL16 ; LCF; NIL16; PRIL16; prIL-16
External IDs	OMIM: 603035 MGI: 1270855 HomoloGene: 18157 GeneCards: IL16 Gene
Gene ontology Molecular function • cytokine activity Cellular component • extracellular space • nucleus • cytoplasm • plasma membrane Biological process • transcription, DNA-templated • regulation of transcription, DNA-templated • immune response • viral process • leukocyte chemotaxis • induction of positive chemotaxis Sources: Amigo / QuickGO
RNA expression pattern
File:PBB GE IL16 209827 s at tn.png
File:PBB GE IL16 209828 s at tn.png
More reference expression data
Orthologs
Species	Human	Mouse
Entrez	3603	16170
Ensembl	ENSG00000172349	ENSMUSG00000001741
UniProt	Q14005	O54824
RefSeq (mRNA)	NM_001172128	NM_010551
RefSeq (protein)	NP_001165599	NP_034681
Location (UCSC)	Chr 15: 81.16 – 81.31 Mb	Chr 7: 83.64 – 83.75 Mb
PubMed search	[1]	[2]

Pro-interleukin-16 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL16 gene. This gene was discovered in 1982 at Boston University by Dr. David Center and Dr. William Cruikshank.

Function

The protein encoded by this gene is a pleiotropic cytokine that functions as a chemoattractant, a modulator of T cell activation, and an inhibitor of HIV replication. The signaling process of this cytokine is mediated by CD4. The product of this gene undergoes proteolytic processing, which is found to yield two functional proteins. The cytokine function is exclusively attributed to the secreted C-terminal peptide, while the N-terminal product may play a role in cell cycle control. Caspase 3 is reported to be involved in the proteolytic processing of this protein. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been reported.

Interleukin 16 (IL-16) is a cytokine that is released by a variety of cells (including lymphocytes and some epithelial cells) that has been characterized as a chemoattractant for certain immune cells expressing the cell surface molecule CD4.

IL-16 was originally described as a factor that could attract activated T cells in humans, it was previously called lymphocyte chemoattractant factor (LCF). Since then, this interleukin has been shown to recruit and activate many other cells expressing the CD4 molecule, including monocytes, eosinophils, and dendritic cells.

The structure of IL-16 was determined following its cloning in 1994. This cytokine is produced as a precursor peptide (pro-IL-16) that requires processing by an enzyme called caspase-3 to become active. CD4 is the cell signaling receptor for mature IL-16.

Interactions

Interleukin 16 has been shown to interact with:

• GRIN2A,
• GRIN2D,
• KCNJ10,
• KCNJ15,
• Kir2.1,
• PPP1R12A, and
• PPP1R12B.

Further reading

This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.