The hematopoietin receptor superfamily

The receptors for a number of cytokines show amino acid sequence homologies in their extracellular domains that define a new family of molecules, the hematopoietin receptors. This review focuses on some recent significant developments in our understanding of the structure and function of these receptors. These include the first X-ray crystallographic determination of the structure of a ligand-receptor complex for one of these family members, the subunit composition of some of the more complex multimeric receptors, the involvement of certain subunits in the receptors for more than one cytokine, and aspects of signal transduction.