title: Cis-trans interactions of cell surface receptors: biological roles and structural basis.
abstract: Cell surface receptors bind ligands expressed on other cells (in trans) in order to communicate with neighboring cells. However, an increasing number of cell surface receptors are found to also interact with ligands expressed on the same cell (in cis). These observations raise questions regarding the biological role of such cis interactions. Specifically, it is important to know whether cis and trans binding have distinct functional effects and, if so, how a single cell discriminates between interactions in cis versus trans. Further, what are the structural features that allow certain cell surface receptors to engage ligand both on the same as well as on an apposed cell membrane? Here, we summarize known examples of receptors that display cis-trans binding and discuss the emerging diversity of biological roles played by these unconventional two-way interactions, along with their structural basis.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Center for Cancer Research of the University of Lausanne, 1066 Epalinges, Switzerland. Werner.Held@unil.ch
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Held
authors.forename: Roy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mariuzza
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000276:immunology; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D055607:Receptors, Natural Killer Cell / Q000378:metabolism; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D055607:Receptors, Natural Killer Cell; D051880:Receptors, Notch