Interleukin 29

More reference expression dataBioGPSEnsemblUniProtRefSeq (mRNA)RefSeq (protein)Location (UCSC)Chr 19: 39.3 – 39.3 MbChr 7: 28.21 – 28.21 MbPubMed searchWikidata

Interleukin-29 (IL-29) is a cytokine and it belongs to type III interferons group, also termed interferons λ (IFN-λ). IL-29 (alternative name IFNλ1) plays an important role in the immune response against pathogenes and especially against viruses by mechanisms similar to type I interferons, but targeting primarily cells of epithelial origin and hepatocytes.

IL-29 is encoded by the IFNL1gene located on chromosome 19 in humans. It is a pseudogene in mice meaning the IL-29 protein is not produced in them.