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The human interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) receptor exists as a preformed dimer in the plasma membrane
Author(s) -
Schuster Björn,
Meinert Werner,
Rose-John Stefan,
Kallen Karl-Josef
Publication year - 2003
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/s0014-5793(03)00154-6
Subject(s) - dimer , extracellular , chemistry , receptor , membrane , d dimer , crystal structure , biophysics , crystallography , biochemistry , biology , medicine , organic chemistry
The recently solved X‐ray structure of the extracellular portion of the interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) receptor (IL‐6R) revealed an IL‐6R dimer in the crystal lattice which probably represents a physiological dimer. Performing coprecipitation experiments with two differently tagged IL‐6R variants expressed in COS‐7 cells, we show that an IL‐6R dimer exists in the plasma membrane in the absence of IL‐6. Ligand binding does not seem to affect the dimerization status. When lysates of COS‐7 cells expressing only one of the IL‐6R variants are mixed, spontaneous dimerization occurs. Thus, the IL‐6R dimer observed in the crystal structure represents a physiologically occurring phenomenon.