The IL21R gene is comprised of 9 exons (+2 alternative first exons), spanning 48.4kb on chromosome 16p11 (Parrish-Novak, 2000). The human IL21R promoter region, contained within nucleotides -789 to +195 (relative to the start of exon 1a) induces the high levels of transcription in reporter assays (Ueda, 2002). A critical SP1 binding site is contained in the region from -80 to -20 and is essenti...

Interleukin-21 (IL-21), the member of the γ-chain-related cytokine family, and its receptor (IL-21R), has been evidenced involving in the immune response, resulting in the development of autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and tumors. This short communication reviews an overall outline of its genetic variants and expression in autoimmune diseases. It focuses on a series of recent studies t...