Common subunits of cytokine receptors and the functional redundancy of cytokines.
Several distinct cytokines often exhibit similar biological activities. The findings that high-affinity receptors for a group of cytokines with similar function share a common subunit with a critical role in signal transduction have provided a molecular basis for the functional redundancy of cytokines. Since the common subunit, together with distinct cytokine-specific receptor subunits, form high-affinity receptors, binding of one cytokine to its high-affinity receptor can be competed for by other cytokines in the same group.
Miyajima
A
A
Department of Molecular Biology, DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
Hara
T
T
Kitamura
T
T
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016184:Receptors, Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000502:physiology*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D016207:Cytokines; D016184:Receptors, Colony-Stimulating Factor; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic