Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

IL4

Interleukin-4

Also known as: BCGF-1, BCGF1, BSF1, IL-4, IL4_HUMAN, MGC79402

Cross-references: UniProt · Ensembl · Human Protein Atlas · GeneCards · NCBI Gene

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
P05112
Gene
IL4
Ensembl
ENSG00000113520
Chromosome
5
Canonical length
153 aa
Protein class
Cancer-related genes, Disease related genes, FDA approved drug targets, Human disease related genes, Plasma proteins, Predicted secreted proteins
Secretome location
Secreted to blood

OverviewNCBI Gene

The protein encoded by this gene is a pleiotropic cytokine produced by activated T cells. This cytokine is a ligand for interleukin 4 receptor. The interleukin 4 receptor also binds to IL13, which may contribute to many overlapping functions of this cytokine and IL13. STAT6, a signal transducer and activator of transcription, has been shown to play a central role in mediating the immune regulatory signal of this cytokine. This gene, IL3, IL5, IL13, and CSF2 form a cytokine gene cluster on chromosome 5q, with this gene particularly close to IL13. This gene, IL13 and IL5 are found to be regulated coordinately by several long-range regulatory elements in an over 120 kilobase range on the chromosome. IL4 is considered an important cytokine for tissue repair, counterbalancing the effects of proinflammatory type 1 cytokines, however, it also promotes allergic airway inflammation. Moreover, IL-4, a type 2 cytokine, mediates and regulates a variety of human host responses such as allergic, anti-parasitic, wound healing, and acute inflammation. This cytokine has been reported to promote resolution of neutrophil-mediated acute lung injury. In an allergic response, IL-4 has an essential role in the production of allergen-specific immunoglobin (Ig) E. This pro-inflammatory cytokine has been observed to be increased in COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) patients, but is not necessarily associated with severe COVID-19 pathology. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants of this gene encoding distinct isoforms have been reported. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2020]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

153 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>P05112|IL4
     1  MGLTSQLLPP LFFLLACAGN FVHGHKCDIT LQEIIKTLNS LTEQKTLCTE LTVTDIFAAS
    61  KNTTEKETFC RAATVLRQFY SHHEKDTRCL GATAQQFHRH KQLIRFLKRL DRNLWGLAGL
   121  NSCPVKEANQ STLENFLERL KTIMREKYSK CSS

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against IL4 can act on the native protein depends on physical access: surface and secreted proteins are reachable by circulating antibodies, intracellular proteins usually are not.

Antibody reachability
Secreted
Secreted
Yes
Transmembrane segments
0
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.35
Highest tissue expression
0.5 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • retina: 0.5 nTPM
  • appendix: 0.4 nTPM
  • parathyroid gland: 0.4 nTPM
  • skin: 0.4 nTPM
  • adrenal gland: 0.3 nTPM
  • bone marrow: 0.3 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • retinal amacrine cells: 2.6 nCPM
  • epicardial cells: 2.3 nCPM
  • retinal horizontal cells: 2 nCPM
  • t-cells: 1.9 nCPM
  • kupffer cells: 1 nCPM
  • fibro-adipogenic progenitors: 0.8 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 477 nTPM
  • total PBMC: 0.7 nTPM
  • memory CD4 T-cell: 0.5 nTPM
  • neutrophil: 0.4 nTPM
  • memory B-cell: 0.2 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • cerebellum: 1.4 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 1 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 0.9 nTPM
  • choroid plexus: 0.7 nTPM
  • hypothalamus: 0.7 nTPM
  • pons: 0.7 nTPM

DiseaseUniProt · ClinVar · IEDB · PubMed

Four sources answering four different questions about IL4.

Disease | AllUniProt

Conditions IL4 is implicated in, by any mechanism.

Disease | AutoantibodyPubMed

Conditions in which antibodies against IL4 are reported. Each links to that disease's full target list.

ReferencesPubMed · IEDB

Publications for IL4 from three distinct lines of evidence, kept separate because they answer different questions: whether antibodies are directed at the protein, whether a B-cell epitope has been mapped on it, and whether a T-cell epitope has. Each is labelled with its source.

Reference: AutoantibodyPubMed

24 publications

Show 19 more

Sources: PubMed — antigen-level antibody evidence from a custom retrieval. Records matching a controlled set of autoantibody terms (the MeSH descriptors Autoantibodies and Autoantigens, with title and abstract term variants) were obtained through NCBI E-utilities, and their titles and abstracts parsed for constructions that direct an antibody at a named protein rather than for co-occurrence. Captured names were resolved against UniProt nomenclature and each antigen adjudicated individually against the source text. Bibliographic records from PubMed and MeSH, U.S. National Library of Medicine; citation metrics from NIH iCite (Hutchins et al., PLoS Biology 2016). Titles link to PubMed; abstracts are not reproduced here. The NLM does not endorse this analysis.

Genetic constraint and essentialitygnomAD · DepMap

Does the body need this protein intact? Low LOEUF or a strong DepMap dependency means loss or blockade of the protein is likely to be felt.

gnomAD LOEUF (loss-of-function intolerance)
1.52
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
0.35
DepMap mean gene effect
0
DepMap dependency class
none

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 4% of surveyed tumor types (aggregate summary; per-cohort expression, alteration, and survival load in the interactive view).

OntologyGO

Biological processes

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

Protein binding partners of IL4 in the human serome: UniProt-annotated complex subunits plus reported interactors. Each links to its own Seroatlas record.

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads IL4 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against IL4 could matter depends on whether native IL4 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

IL4 is annotated as secreted, so native IL4 circulates and is directly accessible to antibodies. Secreted and cell-surface proteins are the autoantibody targets most likely to act like drugs, blocking or depleting the native protein.

Annotation status

The present source text does not explicitly label IL4 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/IL4. Study-independent annotations aggregated from UniProt, Human Protein Atlas, PubMed, IEDB, Pfam, InterPro, Gene Ontology, AlphaFold, gnomAD, DepMap, ClinVar, TCGA. Catalog release seroatlas-reviewed-human-uniprot-20260313.

Seroatlas is the reference for exploring autoantibody and antibody serology at the human-protein level: the autoreactome and human serome, multiplex serology (HuProt, HuScan, VirScan, PhIP-Seq).

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