Interleukins are a group of cytokines that were first seen to be expressed by white blood cells. The term interleukin derives from (inter-) “as a means of communication”, and (-leukin) “deriving from the fact that many of these proteins are produced by leukocytes and act on leukocytes”. The name is something of a relic, though (the term was coined by Dr. Vern Paetkau, University of Victoria); it has since been found that interleukins are produced by a wide variety of body cells.
