Biochem/physiol Actions

Interleukin-13 is a pleiotropic cytokine produced by activated Th2 cells in the mouse and human. IL-13 is secreted mainly as an unglycosylated protein of 132 amino acids with a molecular weight of 10,000 daltons. A 4.3kb DNA fragment of the mouse IL-13 gene was sequenced and occurs as a single copy mapping a chromosome 11. In the human, a 4.6 kb DNA segment of the IL-13 gene occurs as a single copy and maps to chromosome 5. IL-13 induces B cell proliferation and also induces IgE switching. The proliferative activity of human and mouse IL-13 products are tested in culture using the human erythroleukemic cell line TF-1.

IL-13 is known to be overexpressed in glioblastoma tumors and cell lines. Elevated IL-13 expression is also observed in parasitic infections. It stimulates fibrosis in many infectious diseases, and acts as a profibrogenic factor.

Physical form

Lyophilized from a 0.2 µm filtered solution in phosphate buffered saline containing 250 µg BSA.