Biological functions and therapeutic opportunities of soluble cytokine receptors

Cytokines control the immune system by regulating the proliferation, differentiation and function of immune cells. They activate their target cells through binding to specific receptors, which either are transmembrane proteins or attached to the cell-surface via a GPI-anchor. Different tissues and individual cell types have unique expression profiles of cytokine receptors, and consequently this expression pattern dictates to which cytokines a given cell can respond. Furthermore, soluble variants of several cytokine receptors exist, which are generated by different molecular mechanisms, namely differential mRNA splicing, proteolytic cleavage of the membrane-tethered precursors, and release on extracellular vesicles. These soluble receptors shape the function of cytokines in different ways: they can serve as antagonistic decoy receptors which compete with their membrane-bound counterparts for the ligand, or they can form functional receptor/cytokine complexes which act as agonists and can even activate cells that would usually not respond to the ligand alone. In this review, we focus on the IL-2 and IL-6 families of cytokines and the so-called Th2 cytokines. We summarize for each cytokine which soluble receptors exist, were they originate from, how they are generated, and what their biological functions are. Furthermore, we give an outlook on how these soluble receptors can be exploited for therapeutic purposes.     

Human NK cells: From development to effector functions

NK cells are the major lymphocyte subset of the innate immune system that mediates antiviral and anti-tumor responses. It is well established that they develop mechanisms to distinguish self from non-self during the process of NK cell education. Unlike T and B cells, natural killer cells lack clonotypic receptors and are activated after recognizing their target via germline-encoded receptors through natural cytotoxicity, cytokine stimulation, and Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Subsequently, they utilize cytotoxic granules, death receptor ligands, and cytokines to perform their effector functions. In this review, we provide a general overview of human NK cells, as opposed to murine NK cells, discussing their ontogeny, maturation, receptor diversity, types of responses, and effector functions. Furthermore, we also describe recent advances in human NK cell biology, including tissue-resident NK cell populations, NK cell memory, and novel approaches used to target NK cells in cancer immunotherapy.     

Inverse agonism and neutral antagonism at cannabinoid CB1 receptors

There are at least two types of cannabinoid receptor, CB1 and CB2, both G protein coupled. CB1 receptors are expressed predominantly at nerve terminals and mediate inhibition of transmitter release whereas CB2 receptors are found mainly on immune cells, one of their roles being to modulate cytokine release. Endogenous cannabinoid receptor agonists also exist and these "endocannabinoids" together with their receptors constitute the "endocannabinoid system". These discoveries were followed by the development of a number of CB1- and CB2-selective antagonists that in some CB1 or CB2 receptor-containing systems also produce "inverse cannabimimetic effects", effects opposite in direction from those produced by cannabinoid receptor agonists. This review focuses on the CB1-selective antagonists, SR141716A, AM251, AM281 and LY320135, and discusses possible mechanisms by which these ligands produce their inverse effects: (1) competitive surmountable antagonism at CB1 receptors of endogenously released endocannabinoids, (2) inverse agonism resulting from negative, possibly allosteric, modulation of the constitutive activity of CB1 receptors in which CB1 receptors are shifted from a constitutively active "on" state to one or more constitutively inactive "off" states and (3) CB1 receptor-independent mechanisms, for example antagonism of endogenously released adenosine at A1 receptors. Recently developed neutral competitive CB1 receptor antagonists, which are expected to produce inverse effects through antagonism of endogenously released endocannabinoids but not by modulating CB1 receptor constitutive activity, are also discussed. So too are possible clinical consequences of the production of inverse cannabimimetic effects, there being convincing evidence that released endocannabinoids can have "autoprotective" roles.     

Signaling from the IL-2 receptor to the nucleus

Interleukin-2 has pleiotropic actions on the immune system and plays a vital role in the modulation of immune responses. Our current understanding of IL-2 signaling has resulted from in vitro studies that have identified the signaling pathways activated by IL-2, including the Jak-STAT pathways, and from in vivo studies that have analyzed mice in which IL-2, each chain of the receptor, as well a number of signaling molecules have been individually targeted by homologous recombination. Moreover, mutations in IL-2R, γ_c and Jak3 have been found in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency. In addition, with the discovery that two components of the receptor, IL-2Rβ and γ_c, are shared by other cytokine receptors, we have an enhanced appreciation of the contributions of these molecules towards cytokine specificity, pleiotropy and redundancy.     

Contemplating the murine test tube: lessons from natural killer cells and Cryptococcus neoformans

Murine experimentation has provided many useful tools, including the ability to knockout or over-express genes and to perform experiments that are limited by ethical considerations. Over the past century, mice have imparted valuable insights into the biology of many systems, including human immunity. However, although there are many similarities between the immune response of humans and mice, there are also many differences; none is more prominent than when examining natural killer cell biology. These differences include tissue distribution, effector molecules, receptor repertoire, and cytokine responses, all of which have important implications when extrapolating the studies to the human immune responses to Cryptococcus neoformans.     

Nuclear receptor signalling in dendritic cells connects lipids, the genome and immune function

Dendritic cells (DCs) are sentinels of the immune system and represent a heterogeneous cell population. The existence of distinct DC subsets is due to their inherent plasticity and to the changing microenvironment modulating their immunological properties. Numerous signalling pathways have impacts on DCs. It appears that besides cytokines/chemokines, lipid mediators also have profound effects on the immunogenicity of DCs. Some of these lipid mediators exert an effect through nuclear hormone receptors. Interestingly, more recent findings suggest that DCs are able to convert precursors to active hormones, ligands for nuclear receptors. Some of these DC-derived lipids, in particular retinoic acid (RA), have a central function in shaping T-cell development and effector functions. In this review, we summarize and highlight the function of a set of nuclear receptors (PPARgamma, RA receptor, vitamin D receptor and glucocorticoid receptor) in DC biology. Defining the contribution of nuclear hormone receptor signalling in DCs can help one to understand the regulatory logic of lipid signalling and allow the exploitation of their potential for therapeutic intervention in various immunological diseases.     

Colony-stimulating factors and cytokine receptor network.

Cytokines play a vital role in coordinating immune and inflammatory responses. As many cytokine gene hunters have begun to focus their efforts on receptors, novel aspects of hemopoietic growth factor receptors have emerged. Two types of growth factor receptors have been classified--the cytokine receptor family and growth factor receptor family with tyrosine kinase activity. The two types of receptors may have unique roles in 'inducible' and 'constitutive' hemopoiesis which are controlled by immunological stimuli and by interaction with stromal cells, respectively.     

肿瘤坏死因子受体超家族成员在免疫系统和疾病中的研究

肿瘤坏死因子受体超家族 (tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, TNFRSF) 是细胞因子受体的一个蛋白质超家族，其显著特征是通过细胞外富含半胱氨酸结构域结合肿瘤坏死因子(tumor necrosis factor，TNF)。肿瘤坏死因子受体(tumor necrosis factor receptors，TNFRs)是古老的细胞因子，TNFRs同源基因最早可追溯到节肢动物果蝇中。TNFRs在炎症反应、细胞凋亡、淋巴细胞稳态和组织发育中发挥重要的作用，TNFRs最主要的功能是与免疫系统相关。鉴于其在免疫系统中发挥重要的作用，肿瘤坏死因子受体家族成员已成为治疗糖尿病、动脉粥样硬化、骨质疏松、自身免疫性疾病、移植排斥反应和癌症等人类疾病的靶点。随着科学技术发展，关于TNFRs的功能有了新的进展，在无脊椎动物和低等脊椎动物中已经有大量报道。在本篇综述中，主要总结了在高等哺乳动物中发现的29种TNFR成员的相关报道，包括8种死亡受体和21种非死亡受体，主要涉及在免疫系统以及与疾病相关领域的研究。大多数研究处于基础实验阶段，少数走向临床研究的案例取得的临床效果并不理想，靶向设计针对自身免疫性疾病、炎症和肿瘤疾病的治疗方案需要更深入的理解TNFRs功能。本文旨在对TNFRs成员发挥的功能有进一步的认识。     

肿瘤坏死因子受体超家族成员在免疫系统和疾病中的研究

肿瘤坏死因子受体超家族 (tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, TNFRSF) 是细胞因子受体的一个蛋白质超家族,其显著特征是通过细胞外富含半胱氨酸结构域结合肿瘤坏死因子(tumor necrosis factor,TNF)。肿瘤坏死因子受体(tumor necrosis factor receptors,TNFRs)是古老的细胞因子,TNFRs同源基因最早可追溯到节肢动物果蝇中。TNFRs在炎症反应、细胞凋亡、淋巴细胞稳态和组织发育中发挥重要的作用,TNFRs最主要的功能是与免疫系统相关。鉴于其在免疫系统中发挥重要的作用,肿瘤坏死因子受体家族成员已成为治疗糖尿病、动脉粥样硬化、骨质疏松、自身免疫性疾病、移植排斥反应和癌症等人类疾病的靶点。随着科学技术发展,关于TNFRs的功能有了新的进展,在无脊椎动物和低等脊椎动物中已经有大量报道。在本篇综述中,主要总结了在高等哺乳动物中发现的29种TNFR成员的相关报道,包括8种死亡受体和21种非死亡受体,主要涉及在免疫系统以及与疾病相关领域的研究。大多数研究处于基础实验阶段,少数走向临床研究的案例取得的临床效果并不理想,靶向设计针对自身免疫性疾病、炎症和肿瘤疾病的治疗方案需要更深入的理解TNFRs功能。本文旨在对TNFRs成员发挥的功能有进一步的认识。     

Structural biology of the IL‐1 superfamily: Key cytokines in the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses

Interleukin‐1 superfamily of cytokines (IL‐1, IL‐18, IL‐33) play key roles in inflammation and regulating immunity. The mechanisms of agonism and antagonism in the IL‐1 superfamily have been pursued by structural biologists for nearly 20 years. New insights into these mechanisms were recently provided by the crystal structures of the ternary complexes of IL‐1β and its receptors. We will review here the structural biology related to receptor recognition by IL‐1 superfamily cytokines and the regulation of its cytokine activities by antagonists.     

Toll样受体与肿瘤免疫

Toll样受体(Toll-like receptor)是天然免疫系统中最重要的模式识别受体,在病原体感染过程中对入侵病原体的识别,激活免疫应答起重要作用。近年发现Toll样受体在多种肿瘤的发生过程中起重要的调控作用。Toll样受体在肿瘤细胞中具有表达,并且Toll样受体信号诱导的促炎症反应是肿瘤发生的必要条件,但是有些Toll样受体的配体仍然表现出极强的抗肿瘤活性,目前,Toll样受体在肿瘤免疫中的机制研究已经成为Toll样受体作为药物靶点的临床应用的关键。本文对Toll样受体在肿瘤免疫中的机制进行综述。     

P2X ion channel receptors and inflammation

Neuroinflammation limits tissue damage in response to pathogens or injury and promotes repair. There are two stages of inflammation, initiation and resolution. P2X receptors are gaining attention in relation to immunology and inflammation. The P2X7 receptor in particular appears to be an essential immunomodulatory receptor, although P2X1 and P2X4 receptors also appear to be involved. ATP released from damaged or infected cells causes inflammation by release of inflammatory cytokines via P2X7 receptors and acts as a danger signal by occupying upregulated P2X receptors on immune cells to increase immune responses. The purinergic involvement in inflammation is being explored for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.     

Cytokine receptors and signal transduction.

Most of the recently cloned cytokine receptors that operate in the immune and hematopoietic systems contain no tyrosine kinase domains in their cytoplasmic regions, unlike the family of growth factor receptors defined earlier. However, they can be assigned to several new types of receptor families based on structural similarities among them. It is characteristic of these receptors that many of them require a receptor-associated molecule in order to achieve high-affinity ligand binding and/or transmission of cytoplasmic signals. Receptor-associated molecules have been found that transduce cytoplasmic signals and are shared by different cytokine receptors. Phosphorylation of the receptors and of various cytoplasmic proteins after ligand stimulation seems to be a common event in cytokine systems. Insight into the pleiotropic and redundant nature of cytokine action is provided by the discovery of several new cytokine receptor families and of shared signal transduction molecules and by the idea that several cytoplasmic kinases may be able to functionally substitute for one another in transmitting cytokine signals.     

A novel family of diversified immunoregulatory receptors in teleosts is homologous to both mammalian Fc receptors and molecules encoded within the leukocyte receptor complex

Three novel and closely related leukocyte immune-type receptors (IpLITR) have been identified in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). These receptors belong to a large polymorphic and polygenic subset of the Ig superfamily with members located on at least three independently segregating loci. Like mammalian and avian innate immune regulatory receptors, IpLITRs have both putative inhibitory and stimulatory forms, with multiple types coexpressed in various lymphoid tissues and clonal leukocyte cell lines. IpLITRs have an unusual and novel relationship to mammalian and avian innate immune receptors: the membrane distal Ig domains of an individual IpLITR are related to fragment crystallizable receptors (FcRs) and FcR-like proteins, whereas the membrane proximal Ig domains are related to several leukocyte receptor complex encoded receptors. This unique composition of Ig domains within individual receptors supports the hypothesis that functionally and genomically distinct immune receptor families found in tetrapods may have evolved from such ancestral genes by duplication and recombination events. Furthermore, the discovery of a large heterogeneous family of immunoregulatory receptors in teleosts, reminiscent of amphibian, avian, and mammalian Ig-like receptors, suggests that complex innate immune receptor networks have been conserved during vertebrate evolution.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users. GenBank Submissions: The sequences presented in this article have been submitted to GenBank under the following accession numbers: AAW82352, IpLITR1; AAW82353, IpLITR2; AAW82354, IpLITR3.     

Endocytosis and Intracellular Trafficking of Human Natural Killer Cell Receptors

Natural killer (NK) cells play a vital role in the defense against viral infections and tumor development. NK cell function is primarily regulated by the sum of signals from a broad array of activation and inhibitory receptors. Key to generating the input level of either activating or inhibitory signals is the maintenance of receptor expression levels on the cell surface. Although the mechanisms of endocytosis and trafficking for some cell surface receptors, such as transferrin receptor and certain immune receptors, are very well known, that is not the situation for receptors expressed by NK cells. Recent studies have uncovered that endocytosis and trafficking routes characteristic for specific activation and inhibitory receptors can regulate the functional responses of NK cells. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of receptor endocytosis and trafficking, and integrate this with our current understanding of NK cell receptor trafficking.     

Interleukins 19, 20, and 24 signal through two distinct receptor complexes. Differences in receptor-ligand interactions mediate unique biological functions

Cytokines that signal through Class II receptors form a distinct family that includes the interferons and interleukin 10 (IL-10). Recent identification of several IL-10 homologs has defined a cytokine subfamily that includes AK155, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24. Within this subfamily, IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 exhibit substantial sharing of receptor complexes; all three are capable of signaling through IL-20RA/IL-20RB, and IL-20 and IL-24 both can also use IL-22R/IL-20RB. However, the biological effects of these three cytokines appear quite distinct: immune activity with IL-19, skin biology with IL-20, and tumor apoptosis with IL-24. To more fully elucidate their interactions with the receptor complexes, we have performed a series of in vitro assays. Reporter, proliferation, and direct STAT activation assays using cell lines expressing transfected receptors revealed differences between the receptor complexes. IL-19 and IL-24 also exhibited growth inhibition on a cell line endogenously expressing all three receptor subunits, an effect that was seen at cytokine levels two orders of magnitude above those required for STAT activation or proliferation. These results demonstrate that, although this subclass exhibits receptor complex redundancy, there are differences in ligand/receptor interactions and in signal transduction that may lead to specificity and a distinct biology for each cytokine.     

Prospects for a small molecule able to induce somatic growth through the growth hormone receptor

This article reviews the prospects for a small-molecule agonist of the growth hormone receptor in the light of current successes in identifying small agonist molecules for other homomeric class 1 cytokine receptors. A variety of mutagenic analyses on both hormone and receptor, studies with monoclonal antibody agonists of the GH receptor, and the use of a constitutively dimerized GH receptor chimera which displays constitutive activity lead us to believe that such a development is possible. However, it is likely that a precise alignment of the lower cytokine receptor homology domains will be necessary in order to facilitate cross-activation of cytoplasmic Janus kinases bound to Box 1.     

Prospects for a small molecule able to induce somatic growth through the growth hormone receptor

Summary This article reviews the prospects for a small-molecule agonist of the growth hormone receptor in the light of current successes in identifying small agonist molecules for other homomeric class 1 cytokine receptors. A variety of mutagenic analyses on both hormone and receptor, studies with monoclonal antibody agonists of the GH receptor, and the use of a constitutively dimerized GH receptor chimera which displays constitutive activity lead us to believe that such a development is possible. However, it is likely that a precise alignment of the lower cytokine receptor homology domains will be necessary in order to facilitate cross-activation of cytoplasmic Janus kinases bound to Box 1.