Interferon Signaling

Interferons (IFNs) are cytokines that play a central role in initiating immune responses, especially antiviral and antitumor effects. There are three types of IFNs:Type I (IFN-alpha, -beta and others, such as omega, epsilon, and kappa), Type II (IFN-gamma) and Type III (IFN-lamda). In this module we are mainly focusing on type I IFNs alpha and beta and type II IFN-gamma. Both type I and type II IFNs exert their actions through cognate receptor complexes, IFNAR and IFNGR respectively, present on cell surface membranes. Type I IFNs are broadly expressed heterodimeric receptors composed of the IFNAR1 and IFNAR2 subunits, while the type II IFN receptor consists of IFNGR1 and IFNGR2. Type III interferon lambda has three members: lamda1 (IL-29), lambda2 (IL-28A), and lambda3 (IL-28B) respectively. IFN-lambda signaling is initiated through unique heterodimeric receptor composed of IFN-LR1/IF-28Ralpha and IL10R2 chains.

Summary from Reactome (R-HSA-913531), read 2026-09-23.