The cell surface receptors for interleukin-1α and interleukin-1β are identical

• DOI: 10.1038/324266a0
• Publication Date: 2004-11-18T05:54:52Z
• Authors: Steven K. Dower; Shirley R. Kronheim; Thomas P. Hopp; Michael Cantrell; Michael Deeley; Steven Gillis; Christopher S. He...; David L. Urdal
• Keywords: Mice, Inbred BALB C; 0303 health sciences; Cell Membrane; Receptors, Interleukin-1; Binding, Competitive; Cell Line; Kinetics; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Animals; Humans; Receptors, Immunologic; Cells, Cultured; Interleukin-1

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a factor that can induce proliferation of murine T lymphocytes and can elicit a variety of other biological responses. These include bone resorption, fibroblast proliferation, acute phase protein release from hepatocytes, cartilage breakdown and fever. This spectrum of activities is consistent with a role for IL-1 as a mediator of inflammation. Recently, sequence data have shown that there are at least two members of the IL-1 family; these distantly related proteins have been termed IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta. We have found previously that both murine T cells and fibroblasts possess a relative molecular mass (Mr) approximately 80,000 (80K) plasma membrane receptor for human IL-1 beta. We show here that the receptor for IL-1 alpha on both murine and human cells is identical to that for IL-1 beta. This result raises the issue of what separation, if any, there might be between the biological activities of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta.