title: Functional heterodimerization of prolactin and growth hormone receptors by ovine placental lactogen.
abstract: Although homo- or heterodimerization are common mechanisms for activation of cytokine receptors, cross-talk between two distinct receptors in this superfamily has been never shown. Here we show a physiologically relevant example indicating that such an interaction does occurs, thus raising the hypothesis that heterodimerization between distinct cytokine receptors may be a novel mechanism contributing to the diversity of cytokine signaling. These findings were documented using both surface plasmon resonance and gel filtration experiments and show that ovine placental lactogen (PL) heterodimerizes the extracellular domains (ECDs) of ruminant growth hormone receptor (GHR) and prolactin receptor (PRLR). We also show that PL or PL analogues that exhibit little or no activity in cells transfected with PRLRs and no activity in cells transfected with ovine GHRs exhibit largely enhanced activity in cells cotransfected with both PRLRs and GHRs. Furthermore, chimeric receptors consisting of cytosolic and transmembrane part of ovine GHR or ovine PRLR and ECDs of human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (GM-CSFR) alpha or beta were constructed. Upon transfection into Chinese hamster ovary cells along with reporter luciferase gene and stimulation by GM-CSF, a significant increase in luciferase activity occurred when GM-CSFR-alpha-PRLR and GM-CSFR-beta-GHR or GM-CSFR-alpha-GHR and GM-CSRR-beta-PRLR were cotransfected. In conclusion, we show that ovine PL is capable of functional heterodimerization of GHR and PRLR and that when their cytosolic parts, coupled to the ECD of GM-CSF receptors, are heterodimerized by GM-CSF, they are capable of transducing biological signal.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bignon
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grosclaude
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gertler
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Djiane
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D006224:Cricetinae; D016207:Cytokines / Q000494:pharmacology; D019281:Dimerization; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D010928:Placental Lactogen / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016187:Receptors, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000235:genetics; D011981:Receptors, Prolactin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D011986:Receptors, Somatotropin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012756:Sheep; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D016187:Receptors, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D011981:Receptors, Prolactin; D011986:Receptors, Somatotropin; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D010928:Placental Lactogen