[ABSTRACT]IL-13isapleiotropiccytokinemainlysecretedbyactivatedTh2cells.Ithas2receptors,IL-13Rα1 and IL-13Rα2.The latter had been thought to serve exclusively as a decoy receptor for a long period of time due to its short cytoplasmic tail and lack of signal transduction structure .Since Fichtner-Feigl reported in Nature Medicine that IL-13 is in-volved in induction of TGF-βproduction and tissue fibrosis through IL-13Rα2-mediated signaling pathway , it was found that IL-13Rα2 has more sophisticated functions than just a simple decoy receptor as more and more researches have explored its signaling functions .This review combines the most advanced research results with previous investigation and discusses the gene structure, expression, production, distribution, subtype conversion and possible signal pathways mediated by this re-ceptor.More importantly, the connection with human diseases and the applications in disease diagnosis and molecule targe -ted therapy for cancer are also discussed .

作者：金旗；熊丽霞

来源：中国病理生理杂志 2014 年 8期