Structure-function relationships for the interleukin 2 receptor: location of ligand and antibody binding sites on the Tac receptor chain by mutational analysis.

The Tac protein plays a role in high- and low-affinity interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptors. A mutational survey of this molecule identified several small segments in which the binding of IL-2 was particularly sensitive to amino acid substitutions. Two of the segments (residues 1-6 and 35-43) located in the exon 2-encoded region of the molecule overlapped the apparent binding sites of three monoclonal antibodies (anti-Tac, GL439, and H31) that block high- and low-affinity Tac-IL-2 interactions, thus supporting the hypothesis that these segments of the protein are at or near sites of receptor-ligand contact. In contrast, the apparent binding sites of antibodies (Hiei and H47) that selectively inhibit high-affinity IL-2 binding were mapped to a distinct location (residues 158-160) within the region encoded by exon 4 of the Tac gene. Since high-affinity receptors consist of a heterodimer of Tac and a second ligand-binding protein (p70), this portion of the Tac molecule may be involved in the interaction between the two receptor subunits. As expected, the binding sites of noninhibitory antibodies (7G7/B6, residues 140-144; H48, residues 170-211) did not overlap those segments in which IL-2-binding mutants were observed. These results provide a preliminary correlation of structure and function for the Tac protein that should prove useful in evaluating detailed models of the IL-2-receptor complex.