Structural highlights
Disease
[IFNG_HUMAN] In Caucasians, genetic variation in IFNG is associated with the risk of aplastic anemia (AA) [MIM:609135]. AA is a rare disease in which the reduction of the circulating blood cells results from damage to the stem cell pool in bone marrow. In most patients, the stem cell lesion is caused by an autoimmune attack. T-lymphocytes, activated by an endogenous or exogenous, and most often unknown antigenic stimulus, secrete cytokines, including IFN-gamma, which would in turn be able to suppress hematopoiesis.
Function
[IFNG_HUMAN] Produced by lymphocytes activated by specific antigens or mitogens. IFN-gamma, in addition to having antiviral activity, has important immunoregulatory functions. It is a potent activator of macrophages, it has antiproliferative effects on transformed cells and it can potentiate the antiviral and antitumor effects of the type I interferons.
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
The x-ray crystal structure of recombinant human interferon-gamma has been determined with the use of multiple-isomorphous-replacement techniques. Interferon-gamma, which is dimeric in solution, crystallizes with two dimers related by a noncrystallographic twofold axis in the asymmetric unit. The protein is primarily alpha helical, with six helices in each subunit that comprise approximately 62 percent of the structure; there is no beta sheet. The dimeric structure of human interferon-gamma is stabilized by the intertwining of helices across the subunit interface with multiple intersubunit interactions.
Three-dimensional structure of recombinant human interferon-gamma.,Ealick SE, Cook WJ, Vijay-Kumar S, Carson M, Nagabhushan TL, Trotta PP, Bugg CE Science. 1991 May 3;252(5006):698-702. PMID:1902591[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
See Also
References
- ↑ Ealick SE, Cook WJ, Vijay-Kumar S, Carson M, Nagabhushan TL, Trotta PP, Bugg CE. Three-dimensional structure of recombinant human interferon-gamma. Science. 1991 May 3;252(5006):698-702. PMID:1902591
