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Interaction affinity between cytokine receptor components on the cell surface

A Whitty1, N Raskin, D L Olson

  • 1Biogen, Inc., 14 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 28, 1998
PubMed

Insights

An antibody targeting the common gamma chain (gammac) inhibits interleukin-4 (IL-4)-driven T cell proliferation by blocking receptor dimerization. This reveals a weak interaction between IL-4Ralpha and gammac on T cells, impacting immune responses.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Signaling

Background:

  • Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is crucial for T cell proliferation and immune responses.
  • IL-4 signaling involves the heterodimerization of IL-4Ralpha and common gamma chain (gammac) receptor subunits.
  • Understanding receptor-ligand interactions is key to modulating immune cell function.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the inhibitory mechanism of the anti-gammac mAb CP.B8 on IL-4-dependent T cell proliferation.
  • To quantify the affinity of the interaction between IL-4Ralpha, IL-4, and gammac on T cells.
  • To establish a quantitative measure (KR) for receptor-ligand binding and activation coupling.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an anti-common gamma chain (gammac) monoclonal antibody (mAb) CP.B8.
  • Assessed IL-4-dependent proliferation of phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-activated T cells.
  • Measured IL-4 binding affinities to transfected Cos-7 cells and PHA blasts using varying receptor expression levels.

Main Results:

  • mAb CP.B8 noncompetitively inhibited IL-4-dependent T cell proliferation by blocking IL-4Ralpha and gammac heterodimerization.
  • The affinity of the interaction between gammac and the IL-4Ralpha.IL-4 complex (KR) on PHA blasts was found to be approximately 9.
  • This weak interaction implies that about 10% of IL-4Ralpha remains unbound to gammac even at saturating IL-4 concentrations.

Conclusions:

  • The anti-gammac mAb CP.B8 effectively inhibits IL-4 signaling by disrupting essential receptor dimerization.
  • The quantitative measure KR highlights a relatively weak but critical coupling between IL-4 binding and T cell receptor activation.
  • This study provides a framework for understanding receptor activation mechanisms and developing targeted immunotherapies.

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