Description
Interleukin-20 (IL-20) is a member of the IL-10 family of regulatory cytokines that includes IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24 and IL-26. Members of this family share partial homology in their amino acid sequences but they are dissimilar in their biological functions. IL-20 exhibits approximately 28% amino acid identity with IL-10 and 76% amino acid identity with mouse IL-20. There are two heterodimeric receptor complexes for IL-20. The first is composed of IL-20 R alpha and IL-20 R beta. The second is composed of IL-22 R and IL-20 R beta. Whereas the IL-22 R/IL-20 R beta complex is shared with IL-24, the IL-20 R alpha/IL-20 R beta complex is shared with both IL-19 and IL-24. IL-20 has been shown to initiate transduction cascades involving STAT3 and stimulates the induction of pro-inflammatory genes including TNF- alpha and MCP-1. Initial functional studies using transgenic mice suggest that IL-20 has the ability to regulate skin development. The over-expression of both human and mouse forms of IL-20 results in keratinocyte hyper-proliferation, abnormal epidermal differentiation, and neonatal lethality. In humans, IL-20 and its receptors are up-regulated in psoriatic skin, and polymorphisms in the IL-20 gene have been associated with plaque-type psoriasis. IL-20 may also have a role in hematopoiesis. It enhances the proliferation of multi-potential progenitors in vitro and increases their numbers and cell cycling status in IL-20 transgenic mice. IL-20 is also shown to suppress COX-2 and PGE2 and acts as an inhibitor of angiogenesis in model systems