The human interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) receptor exists as a preformed dimer in the plasma membrane

FEBS Letters

Meinert, Werner¹  Kallen, Karl-Josef¹  Rose-John, Stefan¹  Schuster, Björn¹ 

[1] Biochemisches Institut, Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, D-24098 Kiel, Germany

关键词: Interleukin-6;    Cytokine receptor;    Plasma membrane;    Dimer;    CBM;    cytokine binding module;    FNIII;    fibronectin-type-III;    IL-6;    interleukin-6;    IL-6R;    IL-6 receptor;    vIL-6;    viral interleukin-6;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(03)00154-6

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

The recently solved X-ray structure of the extracellular portion of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor (IL-6R) revealed an IL-6R dimer in the crystal lattice which probably represents a physiological dimer. Performing coprecipitation experiments with two differently tagged IL-6R variants expressed in COS-7 cells, we show that an IL-6R dimer exists in the plasma membrane in the absence of IL-6. Ligand binding does not seem to affect the dimerization status. When lysates of COS-7 cells expressing only one of the IL-6R variants are mixed, spontaneous dimerization occurs. Thus, the IL-6R dimer observed in the crystal structure represents a physiologically occurring phenomenon.

【 授权许可】

Unknown