title: A novel role for the Fc receptor gamma subunit: enhancement of Fc gamma R ligand affinity.
abstract: The Fc receptors (FcR), which belong to the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily, bind to specific Ig isotypes with varying affinities triggering complex immune defense responses. Several of the FcR that lack signaling motifs in their cytoplasmic domains rely on associated subunits to transmit signals. Two classes of FcR that bind the Fc portion of IgG, Fc gamma RI, and Fc gamma RIIIa associate with a subunit shared among several FcR, the gamma chain, which is involved in receptor expression and signal transduction. In this report, we propose that a novel role for gamma chain is to enhance the affinity of Fc gamma R for ligand. Our findings demonstrate that Fc gamma RI requires gamma -chain association to attain high affinity binding for monomeric IgG, and suggest that the intermediate binding affinity of the Fc gamma RIIIa isoform results from its association with gamma chain. The affinity increase conferred by gamma chain appears to be mediated through the transmembrane domain of the Fc gamma R, with no requirement for the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus 43210, USA.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Duchemin
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D017931:DNA Primers; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000378:metabolism*; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017452:Receptors, IgG / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D017452:Receptors, IgG; D011994:Recombinant Proteins