Function
Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is an interleukin, a type of biological signal (cytokine) that can improve the body's natural response to disease as part of the immune system. It acts by binding to the interleukin-3 receptor.
IL-3 stimulates the differentiation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells into lymphoid progenitor cells or, with the addition of IL-7, into myeloid progenitor cells. Additionally, IL-3 stimulates proliferation of all cells in the myeloid lineage (]s, monocytes, and dendritic cells), in conjunction with other cytokines, e.g., Erythropoietin (EPO), Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and IL-6. It is secreted by basophils and activated T cells to support growth and differentiation of T cells from the bone marrow in an immune response. Activated T cells can either induce their own proliferation and differentiation (autocrine signalling), or that of other T cells (paracrine signalling) - both involve IL-2 binding to the IL-2 receptor on T cells (upregulated upon cell activation, under the induction of macrophage-secreted IL-1). The human IL-3 gene encodes a protein 152 amino acids long, and the naturally occurring IL-3 is glycosylated. The human IL-3 gene is located on chromosome 5, only 9 kilobases from the GM-CSF gene, and its function is quite similar to GM-CSF.
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