IFN-alpha 7

IFN-alpha 7 (IFNA7; IFN-α7), belongs to the alpha/beta interferon (IFN) family, is produced by the macrophages with antiviral activities^[1]. Interferon (IFN) is originally identified as a substance ‘interfering’ with viral replication in vitro. IFN-α/β and related molecules are classified as type I IFNs, as for the other two types of type II IFN (IFN-γ) and type III IFNs (IFN-λ), respectively^[2]. Interferon stimulates the production of two enzymes: a protein kinase and an oligoadenylate synthetase. Interferon alpha (IFNa) shows significant biological activity in various cancers, paticularly haematological malignancies such as hairy cell leukaemia and chronic myelogenous leukaemia^[3].
IFNα-7 involves in JAK/STAT signaling pathway with strong signaling effect (EC₅₀=3.3 nM), is identified as positive regulators that increases FOXP3 expression and/or decreases CTLA4 expression. Therefore, regulatory T cells (Tregs) as the key cells regulating peripheral autoreactive T lymphocytes, IFNα-7 regulates Treg functional states to protect Treg phenotype stabilization^[4]. As for a wildly use of IFN in animal model, the sequence of amino acids in IFNA7 protein of human is very different from mouse (58.73%)

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