Cytokines of the IL6/GCSF/MGF family are glycoproteins of about 170 to 180 amino acid residues that contain four conserved cysteine residues involved in two disulphide bonds. They have a compact, globular fold (similar to other interleukins), stabilised by the two disulphide bonds. One half of the structure is dominated by a 4-alpha-helix bundle with a left-handed twist; the helices are anti-parallel, with two overhand connections, which fall into a double-stranded anti-parallel beta-sheet. The fourth alpha-helix is important to the biological activity of the molecule.