Interleukins, Signal Transduction, and the Immune System-Mediated Stress Response

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Abstract
The interleukins (ILs) comprise a group of small proteins or polypeptides with molecular weights in the 15–25 kD range. These polypeptides possess pleiotropic biological activities on immune as well as non-immune cells and can be produced by either cell type. At the present time, recombinant forms for at least IL-lα and β through IL-7 are available for investigative use, and these ILs possess certain overlapping biological activities. The use of the term interleukin is somewhat archaic and limiting since a variety of non-leukocytic cell types produce these molecules or others with similar biological activities. Designations for the ILs, based on cell type of origin, include monokines, lymphokines, and cytokines if they are derived from monocytes, lymphocytes, and non-lymphoid cells, respectively. Finally, there is a trend to refer to all of the above mentioned molecules as cytokines, and an appreciation of the multitude of biological effects induced by the cytokines can be found in several recent reviews (1,2,3,4).