The protein encoded by this gene is a cytokine that shares the sequence similarity with IL17. The treatment of endothelial cells with this cytokine has been shown to stimulate the production of other cytokines including IL6, IL8 and CSF2/ GM-CSF. The increased expression of IL8 induced by this cytokine was found to be NF-kappa B-dependent. IL-17D is highly expressed in the nervous system and in skeletal muscle.

IL-17D is highly expressed in some unedited, but not edited, tumor cell lines. IL-17D expression is decreased in certain high-grade and metastatic human tumors. IL-17D recruits NK cells through MCP-1 production from tumor endothelial cells.