McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Mol Immunol. 2010 Mar;47(6):1207-15. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2009.12.017. Epub 2010 Jan 21.
Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an IL-7-like cytokine that requires a heterodimeric receptor complex composed of the interleukin-7 receptor alpha chain and the TSLP receptor, which is related to the common gamma chain. TSLP has been shown to play an important role in the development of allergic inflammation, such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Chimeric receptors composed of the cytoplasmic region of the TSLP receptor fused to the extracellular regions of homodimeric receptors, such as erythropoietin (Epo) receptor and thrombopoietin receptor have been used to dissect signaling events induced by the TSLP receptor. Intriguingly, studies using such chimeric TSLP receptors revealed that the human, but not mouse, TSLP receptor cytoplasmic domain can support proliferation of growth factor-dependent cells after homodimerization. Here, we used a systematic approach to investigate the mechanistic basis of this difference. Our studies revealed that induced homodimerization of receptor chimeras containing the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of both human and mouse TSLP receptors is not sufficient for driving cell proliferation. However, chimeric receptors with the transmembrane and juxtamembrane domains of Epo receptor fused to the cytoplasmic domain of human TSLP receptor signal like the Epo receptor and induce the activation of Jak2. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that the lone tyrosine residue in human TSLP receptor is not required for transmitting proliferative signals in receptor chimeras, which is consistent with the observation that none of the tyrosine residues are required for Epo receptor to support proliferation. Our data suggests that in the chimeric receptor context, the transmembrane and juxtamembrane domains of mouse Epo receptor are essential for the cytoplasmic domain of human TSLPR to achieve the strong proliferative ability and can modulate signaling pathway transmitted by the cytoplasmic domains of these chimeras.
胸腺基质淋巴细胞生成素(TSLP)是一种类似于白细胞介素-7 的细胞因子,需要由白细胞介素-7 受体α链和 TSLP 受体组成的异二聚体受体复合物,该受体与 common gamma 链有关。已经表明 TSLP 在过敏炎症的发展中起重要作用,例如哮喘和特应性皮炎。由 TSLP 受体的细胞质区域与同源二聚体受体(如促红细胞生成素(Epo)受体和血小板生成素受体)的细胞外区域融合而成的嵌合受体已被用于剖析由 TSLP 受体诱导的信号转导事件。有趣的是,使用这种嵌合 TSLP 受体的研究表明,人而不是鼠 TSLP 受体胞质域可以在同源二聚化后支持生长因子依赖性细胞的增殖。在这里,我们使用系统的方法研究了这种差异的机制基础。我们的研究表明,包含人 TSLP 受体的跨膜和胞质域的受体嵌合体的诱导同源二聚化不足以驱动细胞增殖。然而,具有 Epo 受体的跨膜和近膜域以及人 TSLP 受体的胞质域的嵌合受体类似于 Epo 受体信号传导,并诱导 Jak2 的激活。定点突变显示,人 TSLP 受体中的唯一酪氨酸残基对于在受体嵌合体中传递增殖信号不是必需的,这与观察到 Epo 受体不需要任何酪氨酸残基来支持增殖是一致的。我们的数据表明,在嵌合受体背景下,鼠 Epo 受体的跨膜和近膜域对于人 TSLPR 的胞质域实现强增殖能力是必需的,并且可以调节这些嵌合受体的胞质域传递的信号通路。