IL6 Interleukin-6 homologues
SMART ACC:	SM000126
Description:	Family includes granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and myelomonocytic growth factor (MGF). IL-6 is also known as B-cell stimulatory factor 2.
InterPro ACC:	IPR030474
InterPro abstract:	Interleukin-6 (IL6), also refered to as B-cell stimulatory factor-2 (BSF-2) and interferon beta-2, is a cytokine involved in a wide variety of biological functions [ PUBMED:3491322 ]. It plays an essential role in the final differentiation of B-cells into IG-secreting cells, as well as inducing myeloma/plasmacytoma growth … expand Interleukin-6 (IL6), also refered to as B-cell stimulatory factor-2 (BSF-2) and interferon beta-2, is a cytokine involved in a wide variety of biological functions [ PUBMED:3491322 ]. It plays an essential role in the final differentiation of B-cells into IG-secreting cells, as well as inducing myeloma/plasmacytoma growth, nerve cell differentiation and, in hepatocytes, acute phase reactants [ PUBMED:3491322 PUBMED:2037043 ]. A number of other cytokines may be grouped with IL6 on the basis of sequence similarity [ PUBMED:3491322 PUBMED:2037043 PUBMED:2472117 ]: these include granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) and myelomonocytic growth factor (MGF). GCSF acts in hematopoiesis by affecting the production, differentiation and function of 2 related white cell groups in the blood [ PUBMED:2472117 ]. MGF also acts in hematopoiesis, stimulating proliferation and colony formation of normal and transformed avian cells of the myeloid lineage. collapse
GO process:	immune response (GO:0006955)
GO component:	extracellular region (GO:0005576)
GO function:	cytokine activity (GO:0005125)
Family alignment:	View the Family alignment or the Alignment consensus sequence
There are 531 IL6 domains in 530 proteins in SMART's NRDB database.

Taxonomic distribution of proteins containing IL6 domains

The tree below includes only several representative species and genera. The complete taxonomic breakdown of all proteins containing IL6 domains can be accessed here. Click the counts or percentage values to display the corresponding proteins.

Relevant references for this domain

Primary literature for the IL6 domain is listed below. Automatically-derived, secondary literature is also available.

KEGG pathways involving proteins which contain this domain

This information is based on the mapping of SMART genomic protein database to KEGG orthologous groups. Percentages are related to the number of proteins containing a IL6 domain which could be assigned to a KEGG orthologous group, and not all proteins containing IL6 domains. Please note that proteins can be included in multiple pathways, ie. the numbers below will not add to 100%.

KEGG pathways

KEGG orthologous groups

3D structures in PDB containing this domain

Links to other resources describing this domain

PROSITE	IL6_DOMAIN
InterPro	IPR030474