Interferon type III

[2] Their function is similar to that of type I interferons, but is less intense and serves mostly as a first-line defense against viruses in the epithelium.

[3] Genes encoding this group of interferons are all located on the long arm of chromosome 19 in human, specifically in region between 19q13.12 and 19q13.13.

[4][5] In mice, the genes encoding for type III interferons are located on chromosome 7 and the family consists only of IFN-λ2 and IFN-λ3.

[6] All interferon groups belong to class II cytokine family which have a conserved structure that comprises six α-helices.

[10] In contrast to the ubiquitous expression of receptors for type I interferons, IFNLR1 is largely restricted to tissues of epithelial origin.

[9] IFN-λ production is induced by pathogen sensing through pattern recognition receptors (PRR), including TLR, Ku70 and RIG-I-like.

Both of these cytokine groups modulate the immune response after a pathogen has been sensed in the organism, their functions are mostly anti-viral and anti-proliferative.