Interleukin 24 (IL-24) is a cytokine belonging to the IL-10 family of cytokines that signals through two heterodimeric receptors: IL-20R1/IL-20R2 and IL-22R1/IL-20R2. This interleukin is also known as Melanoma differentiation-associated 7 (mda-7) due to its discovery as a tumour suppressing protein. IL-24 appears to control in cell survival and proliferation by inducing rapid activation of particular transcription factors called Stat-1 and Stat-3.  This gene encodes a member of the IL10 family of cytokines. It was identified as a gene induced during terminal differentiation in melanoma cells. The protein encoded by this gene can induce apoptosis selectively in various cancer cells. Overexpression of this gene leads to elevated expression of several GADD family genes, which correlates with the induction of apoptosis. The phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (MAPK7/P38), and heat shock 27kDa protein 1 (HSPB2/HSP27) are found to be induced by this gene in melanoma cells, but not in normal immortal melanocytes. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been reported. [provided by RefSeq].
Function: Has antiproliferative properties on melanoma cells and may contribute to terminal cell differentiation.