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Protein / target

Pro-interleukin-16

Encoded byIL16Q14005Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
UniProt: Q14005Ensembl: ENSG00000172349HGNC: HGNC:5980NCBI Gene: 3603
Antibody-tractable
Druggability
GO CC high conf
1
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

CD4 receptor binding

Strongest disease association

Hair color

Via encoding gene IL16 · Genetic evidence · score 0.56

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 2023

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function overview

Interleukin-16 stimulates a migratory response in CD4+ lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophils.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Interleukin-16 stimulates a migratory response in CD4+ lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophils. Primes CD4+ T-cells for IL-2 and IL-15 responsiveness. Also induces T-lymphocyte expression of interleukin 2 receptor. Ligand for CD4

Subcellular location

SecretedCytoplasmNucleus
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (19)

Domains & features

PDZ 1PDZ 2PDZ 3PDZ 4

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytosol
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cnuclear speck
  • FCD4 receptor binding
  • Fcytokine activity
  • Pchemotaxis
  • Pcytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • PDNA-templated transcription
  • Pimmune response
  • Pinduction of positive chemotaxis
  • Ppositive regulation of inflammatory response

1332 aa · 142 kDa · 4 isoforms

Biological roles

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Cell migrationGOImmune signallingUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

Cell migration

  • ·chemotaxis
  • ·induction of positive chemotaxis

Immune signalling

  • ·Interleukin-16 stimulates a migratory response in CD4+ lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosin…
  • ·cytokine activity
  • ·cytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • ·immune response

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene IL16

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene IL16that encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Hair color
0.56Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.34

Primary biliary cholangitis
0.53Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.32

Urolithiasis
0.33Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.20

Alcohol drinking
0.33Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.20

Neoplasms
0.13Preliminary

Literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.11 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
Hair colorModerately supported
0.56
agreement 0.44–0.68
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.34 · 1 independent evidence family

Primary biliary cholangitisModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.39–0.67
Genetic93%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.32 · 2 independent evidence families

UrolithiasisLimited support
0.33
agreement 0.19–0.47
Genetic97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.20 · 2 independent evidence families

Alcohol drinkingLimited support
0.33
agreement 0.19–0.47
Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.20 · 2 independent evidence families

NeoplasmsPreliminary
0.13
agreement 0.00–0.41
Literature100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.11 · 1 independent evidence family · no direct causal or clinical evidence

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Hair color0.34
Primary biliary cholangitis0.32
Urolithiasis0.20
Alcohol drinking0.20
Neoplasms0.11
Sarcopenia0.10

Tractability

Antibodies — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (go cc high conf and uniprot loc med conf) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degraders — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and half-life data) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (4)
AB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life Data

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

drug toxicityClinPGx

Terms indexed against this target in Open Targets' safety data, with their datasource. These are annotations, not causal claims: the direction of effect (whether activation or inhibition is implicated), species and evidence strength are not captured here, so an entry does not mean that modulating this target is known to cause that condition.

Research activity

1 papers · to 2023

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Circulating inflammatory cytokines and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.12 cites

Guan S · Frontiers in immunology · 2023

Recent

Circulating inflammatory cytokines and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Guan S · Frontiers in immunology · 2023

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.