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Identification of κ‐ and δ‐opioid receptor transcripts in immune cells
Author(s) -
Gavériaux Claire,
Peluso Jean,
Simonin Fréderic,
Laforet Jean,
Kieffer Brigitte
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(95)00766-3
Subject(s) - immune system , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , δ opioid receptor , monocyte , κ opioid receptor , immune receptor , cell culture , μ opioid receptor , opioid receptor , opioid , immunology , genetics
To investigate the role of opioids as direct modulators of the immune response, we have searched for expression of the recently cloned δ, μ and κ opioid receptors in immune cells. We have devised a reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction strategy which specifically detects a region spanning putative transmembrane regions 2 to 7 for each transcript in both human and mouse immune cells. In human peripheral blood lymphocyte and monocyte preparations, δ was undetectable while the κ transcript was present. The analysis of human cell lines revealed low but significant levels of δ opioid receptor transcripts in T, B or monocyte cell lines while the κ transcript was found in B cell lines only. Investigation of murine cells showed the presence of transcript for the δ receptor in splenocytes and in some T and B cell lines. Unexpectedly, no expression of the μ receptor was detected. Sequence analysis of PCR products demonstrated nucleotide identity between immune and neuronal transcripts, indicating that they derive from the same genes. In conclusion, our results lead to the identification of κ and δ opioid receptor transcripts in immune cells.