Multimeric cytokine receptors

Cytokines are pleiotropic regulators that control proliferation, differentiation, and other cellular functions. They play a pivotal role in the immune and hematopoietic systems, and subsets of cytokines often exhibit similar biologic activities in common target cells. Recent cloning of genes for the cytokine receptors has provided new insights into the understanding of how the cytokines control the immune and hematopoietic systems. Cytokine receptors usually consist of multiple subunits, most of which belong to a new gene family called the cytokine receptor superfamily, and receptors for a subset of cytokines with similar functions share a common subunit with a signaling function, providing a molecular basis for the functional redundancy of cytokines.