interleukin 7
Symbol
Organism
Description
The protein encoded by this gene is a cytokine important for B and T cell development. This cytokine and the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) form a heterodimer that functions as a pre-pro-B cell growth-stimulating factor. This cytokine is found to be a cofactor for V(D)J rearrangement of the T cell receptor beta (TCRB) during early T cell development. This cytokine can be produced locally by intestinal epithelial and epithelial goblet cells, and may serve as a regulatory factor for intestinal mucosal lymphocytes. Knockout studies in mice suggested that this cytokine plays an essential role in lymphoid cell survival. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. Additional splice variants have been described but their presence in normal tissues has not been confirmed.[provided by RefSeq, Dec 2010]
Orthologs
| Symbol | Species | |
|---|---|---|
| Il7 | Mus musculus | |
| Il7 | Rattus norvegicus |
Links to external resources
Changes associated with this gene
| Identifier | Name | Type | Tissues | Organism | Gene | Data | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAA955 | Interleukin-7 production declines | Physiological | stromal cell | Human | IL7 | — |
GO Terms
| GO ID | GO Term | GO Category | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GO:0002360 | T cell lineage commitment | biological_process | |
| GO:0006916 | anti-apoptosis | biological_process | |
| GO:0006955 | immune response | biological_process | |
| GO:0006959 | humoral immune response | biological_process | |
| GO:0007267 | cell-cell signaling | biological_process | |
| GO:0008284 | positive regulation of cell proliferation | biological_process | |
| GO:0009887 | organ morphogenesis | biological_process | |
| GO:0010468 | regulation of gene expression | biological_process | |
| GO:0030308 | negative regulation of cell growth | biological_process | |
| GO:0030890 | positive regulation of B cell proliferation | biological_process | |
| GO:0043066 | negative regulation of apoptotic process | biological_process | |
| GO:0043086 | negative regulation of catalytic activity | biological_process | |
| GO:0045453 | bone resorption | biological_process | |
| GO:0045582 | positive regulation of T cell differentiation | biological_process | |
| GO:0046622 | positive regulation of organ growth | biological_process | |
| GO:0048873 | homeostasis of number of cells within a tissue | biological_process | |
| GO:0005576 | extracellular region | cellular_component | |
| GO:0005615 | extracellular space | cellular_component | |
| GO:0005125 | cytokine activity | molecular_function | |
| GO:0005126 | cytokine receptor binding | molecular_function | |
| GO:0005139 | interleukin-7 receptor binding | molecular_function | |
| GO:0005515 | protein binding | molecular_function | |
| GO:0008083 | growth factor activity | molecular_function | |