Update of the biological functions of type III interferon

Abstract:

Interferon (IFN) is a kind of glycoprotein with multifunctional biological activity, and contains three families (type I, type II and type III). Type III interferon (IFN-III) is a novel interferon discovered in the last 16 years. The induction process and biological functions of IFN-III are similar to those of type I interferon (IFN-I). IFN-III plays an important role in antiviral, immunomodulatory, antitumor, suppression of autoimmune diseases, allergic asthma, as well as antibacterial and antifungal. We elaborate here IFN-I and IFN-III in terms of classification, sequence homology and signal transduction. Combining with the achievements of IFN-III in the treatment of diseases in recent years, we try to summarize the related biological functions of IFN-III, to provide a reference for further study of IFN-III.