@article{KruseShenArnoldetal.1993,
  author    = {Kruse, N. and Shen, B. J. and Arnold, S. and Tony, H. P. and M{\"u}ller, T. and Sebald, Walter},
  title     = {Two distinct functional sites of human interleukin 4 are identified by variants impaired in either receptor binding or receptor activation},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-62451},
  year      = {1993},
  abstract  = {Interleukin 4 (IL-4) exerts a decisive role in the coord.ination of proteelive immune responses against parasites, particularly helminths. A disregulation of ll.r4 function is possibly involved in the genesis of allergic disease states. The search for important amino acid residues in human ll.r4 by mutational analysis of charged invariant amino acid positions identified two distinct functional sites in the 4-helix-bundle protein. Site 1 was marked by amino acid substitutions of the glutamic acid at position 9 in helix A and arginine at position 88 in helix C. Exchanges at both positions led to IL-4 variants deficient in binding to the extracellular domain of the ll.r4 receptor (IL-4ReJ. In parallel, up to 1000-fold increased concentrations of this type of variant were required to induce T -cell proliferation and B-eeil CD23 expression. Site 2 was marked by amino acid exchanges in helix D at positions 121, 124 and 125 (arginine, tyrosine and serine respectively in the wild-type).ß.A variants affected at site 2 exhibited partial agonist activity during T -cell proliferation; however, they still bound with high affinity to IL-4Rex. [The generation of an IL-4 antagonist by replacing tyrosine 124 with aspartic acid has been described before by Kruse et al. (1992) (EMBO }., 11, 3237-3244)]. These findings indicate that IL-4 functions by bind.ing IL-4Rex via site 1 which is constituted by residues on helices A and C. They further suggest that the association of a second, still undetined receptor protein with site 2 in helix D activates the receptor system and generates a transmembrane signal.},
  subject      = {Biochemie},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KruseTonySebald1992,
  author    = {Kruse, N. and Tony, H. P. and Sebald, Walter},
  title     = {Conversion of human interleukin-4 into a high affinity antagonist by a single amino acid replacement},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-62469},
  year      = {1992},
  abstract  = {lnterleukin-4 (IL-4) represents a prototypic lymphokine (for a recent review see Paul, 1991). It promotes differentiation of B-cells and the proliferation of T- and B-cell, and other cell types of the lymphoid system. An antagonist of human IL-4 was discovered during the studies presented here after Tyr124 of the recombinant proteinbad been substituted by an aspartic acid residue. This IL-4 variant, Y124D, bound with high affinity to the IL-4 receptor (K\(_D\) = 310 pM), but retained no detectable proliferative activity for T -<:ells and inhibited IL-4-dependent T -cell proliferation competitively (K\(_i\) = 620 pM). The loss of efficacy in variant Y124D was estimated to be > 100-fold on the basis of a weak partial agonist activity for the very sensitive induction of CD23 positive B-cells. The subsitution of Tyr124 by either phenylalanine, histidine, asparagine, Iysine or glycine resulted in partial agonist variants with unaltered receptor binding atTmity and relatively small deficiencies in efficacy. These results demoostrate that high affinity binding and signal generation can be uncoupled efticiently in a Iigand of a receptor betonging to the recently identified hematopoietin receptor family. In addition we show for the first time, that a powerful antagonist acting on the IL-4 receptor system can be derived from the IL-4 protein.},
  subject      = {Biochemie},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KruseLehrnbecherSebald1991,
  author    = {Kruse, N. and Lehrnbecher, T. and Sebald, Walter},
  title     = {Site-directed mutagenesis reveals the importance of disulfide bridges and aromatic residues for structure and proliferative activity of human interleukin-4},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-62505},
  year      = {1991},
  abstract  = {Mutant proteins (muteins) of human lnterleukin-4 (llA) were constructed by means of in vitro mutagenesis. The muteins were expressed in E. co/1, submitted to a renaturation and purification protocol and analysed for biological activity. Exchange of the cysteines at either position 46 or 99 which form one of the three disulfide bridges resulted. in a nearly co•mplete loss · of biological actiyity and an unstable protein. The exchange of tyrosine 124 also inactivated the protein, while a mutation of tyrosine 56 left some residual activity. Exchange of the other four cysteines or of · the single tryptophane had smaller etTects.},
  subject      = {Biochemie},
  language  = {en}
}