Cytokine-receptor pairing: accelerating discovery of cytokine function.
Over the past decade, advances in both gene discovery and ligand-receptor pairing techniques have led to the recognition that systematic pairing of 'orphan' database-derived cytokines and/or cytokine receptors with their cognate partners can lead to a marked acceleration in the elucidation of biological function. The sometimes-restricted tissue distribution of the receptor, coupled with the highly specific bioactivity of the corresponding ligand, can direct investigators rapidly towards regulatory function and site-of-action studies. The power of cytokine-receptor pairing to accelerate the understanding of function will be illustrated, citing several examples of candidate drug discoveries. Several of these discoveries, resulting from cytokine-receptor pairings, are at present advancing towards human clinical evaluation.
Foster
Don
D
Cytokine Biology Program, ZymoGenetics, Inc. 1201 Eastlake Avenue, East Seattle, Washington 98102, USA. fosterd@zgi.com
Parrish-Novak
Julia
J
Fox
Brian
B
Xu
Wenfeng
W
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D010597:Pharmacogenetics; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D016207:Cytokines; D008024:Ligands; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine