• Ritobrata Goswami and Mark H Kaplan.
• Department of Pediatrics, Herman B. Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
• J. Immunol. 2011 Mar 15; 186 (6): 3283-8.

AbstractIL-9 was first described in the late 1980s as a member of a growing number of cytokines that had pleiotropic functions in the immune system. Although many biological functions have been attributed to IL-9, it remains an understudied cytokine. A resurgence of interest in IL-9 has been spurred by recent work demonstrating a role for IL-9 in regulating inflammatory immunity and defining the transcription factors that activate the Il9 gene in cells that most efficiently produce IL-9. In this review, we summarize the characterization of IL-9 biological activities, highlight roles for the cytokine that are clearly defined, and outline questions regarding IL-9 functions that still require further exploration.

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