Human Recombinant IL-21

Interleukin 21 (IL-21) is a pleiotropic cytokine that is composed of four α-helical bundles and primarily produced by natural killer T (NKT) cells, T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, and Th17 cells (Spolski & Leonard 2008). IL-21 signals via heterodimers of the IL-21 receptor (IL-21R) and the IL2RG encoded common cytokine receptor γ-chain (Parrish-Novak et al.; Ozaki K et al. 2000), and utilizes the JAK/STAT, MAPK, and PI3K pathways (Spolski & Leonard 2014). IL-21 has been shown to have a critical role in regulating immunoglobulin production and differentiation of the pro-inflammatory Th17 population of cells (Ozaki et al. 2002; Nurieva et al.). Additionally, IL-21 specifically sustains CD8+ T cell effector activity and provides a mechanism of CD4+ T cell help during chronic viral infection (Elsaesser et al.). IL-21 signaling was also found critical for the development of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice (Sutherland et al.) and control of T cell autoimmunity by regulatory B cells (Yoshizaki et al.).