title: Multiple interests in structural models of DARC transmembrane protein.
abstract: Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC) is an unusual transmembrane chemokine receptor which (i) binds the two main chemokine families and (ii) does not transduct any signal as it lacks the DRY consensus sequence. It is considered as silent chemokine receptor, a tank useful for chemiotactism. DARC had been particularly studied as a major actor of malaria infection by Plasmodium vivax. It is also implicated in multiple chemokine inflammation, inflammatory diseases, in cancer and might play a role in HIV infection and AIDS. In this review, we focus on the interest to build structural model of DARC to understand more precisely its abilities to bind its physiological ligand CXCL8 and its malaria ligand. We also present innovative development on VHHs able to bind DARC protein. We underline difficulties and limitations of such bioinformatics approaches and highlight the crucial importance of biological data to conduct these kinds of researches.
authors.affiliation: Inserm UMR-S 665, dynamique des structures et interactions des macromolecules biologiques (DSIMB), 6, rue Alexandre-Cabanel, 75739 Paris cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smolarek
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Czerwinski
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Colin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Etchebest
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: de Brevern
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018925:Chemokines / Q000378:metabolism; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004375:Duffy Blood-Group System / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000097:blood; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D043705:Receptor, Adenosine A2A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: C473745:ACKR1 protein, human; D018925:Chemokines; D004375:Duffy Blood-Group System; D043705:Receptor, Adenosine A2A; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface