A short form of leptin receptor performs signal transduction

The obese (ob) gene product, leptin, a peptide hormone, which is synthesized in adipocytes, is a satiety factor and is involved in the control of body weight via the regulation of energy homeostasis. Several alternate spliced isoforms (a-e, as well as others) of the leptin receptor (OBR) have been cloned, all of which, except for OBRe (soluble form), contain a single transmembrane domain. They share the same extracellular domain, with homology to the class I cytokine receptor family. The OBRb, which has longest cytoplasmic domain, is expressed in high levels in the hypothalamus and is thought to be the only isoform capable of signal transmission. Herein, we report the mRNA expression of immediate early genes, c-fos, c-jun and jun-B, which are induced by leptin addition, not only in CHO cells expressing the OBRb, but also in cells expressing one of the short form receptors, OBRa.