This old version of Proteopedia is provided for student assignments while the new version is undergoing repairs. Content and edits done in this old version of Proteopedia after March 1, 2026 will eventually be lost when it is retired in about June of 2026.
Apply for new accounts at the new Proteopedia. Your logins will work in both the old and new versions.
2d31
From Proteopedia
Crystal structure of disulfide-linked HLA-G dimer
Overview
HLA-G is a nonclassical major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) molecule, which is expressed in trophoblasts and confers immunological tolerance in the maternal-fetal interface by binding to leukocyte Ig-like receptors (LILRs, also called as LIR/ILT/CD85) and CD8. HLA-G is expressed in disulfide-linked dimer form both in solution and at the cell surface. Interestingly, MHCI dimer formations have been involved in pathogenesis and T cell activation. The structure and receptor binding characteristics of MHCI dimers have never been evaluated. Here we performed binding studies showing that the HLA-G dimer exhibited higher overall affinity to LILRB1/2 than the monomer by significant avidity effects. Furthermore, the cell reporter assay demonstrated that the dimer formation remarkably enhanced the LILRB1-mediated signaling at the cellular level. We further determined the crystal structure of the wild-type dimer of HLA-G with the intermolecular Cys(42)-Cys(42) disulfide bond. This dimer structure showed the oblique configuration to expose two LILR/CD8-binding sites upward from the membrane easily accessible for receptors, providing plausible 1:2 (HLA-G dimer:receptors) complex models. These results indicated that the HLA-G dimer conferred increased avidity in a proper structural orientation to induce efficient LILR signaling, resulting in the dominant immunosuppressive effects. Moreover, structural and functional implications for other MHCI dimers observed in activated T cells and the pathogenic allele, HLA-B27, are discussed.
About this Structure
2D31 is a Protein complex structure of sequences from Homo sapiens. Full crystallographic information is available from OCA.
Reference
Efficient leukocyte Ig-like receptor signaling and crystal structure of disulfide-linked HLA-G dimer., Shiroishi M, Kuroki K, Ose T, Rasubala L, Shiratori I, Arase H, Tsumoto K, Kumagai I, Kohda D, Maenaka K, J Biol Chem. 2006 Apr 14;281(15):10439-47. Epub 2006 Feb 2. PMID:16455647 Page seeded by OCA on Sat May 3 23:36:17 2008
