Interleukin-7 receptor-α explained

Interleukin-7 receptor subunit alpha (IL7R-α) also known as CD127 (Cluster of Differentiation 127) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL7R gene.^{[1] [2]}

IL7R-α is a type I cytokine receptor and is a subunit of the functional interleukin-7 receptor and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) receptors.

Further reading

• Akashi K, Kondo M, Weissman IL . Role of interleukin-7 in T-cell development from hematopoietic stem cells. . Immunol. Rev. . 165 . 13–28 . 1999 . 9850848 . 10.1111/j.1600-065X.1998.tb01226.x . 45365828 .
• Appasamy PM . Biological and clinical implications of interleukin-7 and lymphopoiesis. . Cytokines Cell. Mol. Ther. . 5 . 1 . 25–39 . 1999 . 10390077 .
• Al-Rawi MA, Mansel RE, Jiang WG . Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and IL-7 receptor (IL-7R) signalling complex in human solid tumours. . Histol. Histopathol. . 18 . 3 . 911–23 . 2004 . 12792903 .
• Banham AH . Cell-surface IL-7 receptor expression facilitates the purification of FOXP3(+) regulatory T cells. . Trends Immunol. . 27 . 12 . 541–4 . 2007 . 17045841 . 10.1016/j.it.2006.10.002 .
• Nishii K, Kita K, Miwa H, etal . c-kit gene expression in CD7-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia: close correlation with expression of myeloid-associated antigen CD13. . Leukemia . 6 . 7 . 662–8 . 1992 . 1378163 .
• Lynch M, Baker E, Park LS, etal . The interleukin-7 receptor gene is at 5p13. . Hum. Genet. . 89 . 5 . 566–8 . 1992 . 1634235 . 10.1007/BF00219186 . 8151834 .
• Pleiman CM, Gimpel SD, Park LS, etal . Organization of the murine and human interleukin-7 receptor genes: two mRNAs generated by differential splicing and presence of a type I-interferon-inducible promoter. . Mol. Cell. Biol. . 11 . 6 . 3052–9 . 1991 . 2038316 . 10.1128/MCB.11.6.3052. 360143 .
• Seckinger P, Fougereau M . Activation of src family kinases in human pre-B cells by IL-7. . J. Immunol. . 153 . 1 . 97–109 . 1994 . 10.4049/jimmunol.153.1.97 . 7515933 .
• van der Plas DC, Smiers F, Pouwels K, etal . Interleukin-7 signaling in human B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells and murine BAF3 cells involves activation of STAT1 and STAT5 mediated via the interleukin-7 receptor alpha chain. . Leukemia . 10 . 8 . 1317–25 . 1996 . 8709637 .
• Maraskovsky E, O'Reilly LA, Teepe M, etal . Bcl-2 can rescue T lymphocyte development in interleukin-7 receptor-deficient mice but not in mutant rag-1-/- mice. . Cell . 89 . 7 . 1011–9 . 1997 . 9215624 . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80289-5 . 16192745 . free .
• Corcoran AE, Riddell A, Krooshoop D, Venkitaraman AR . Impaired immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in mice lacking the IL-7 receptor. . Nature . 391 . 6670 . 904–7 . 1998 . 9495344 . 10.1038/36122 . 1998Natur.391..904C . 205024726 .
• Puel A, Ziegler SF, Buckley RH, Leonard WJ . Defective IL7R expression in T(-)B(+)NK(+) severe combined immunodeficiency. . Nat. Genet. . 20 . 4 . 394–7 . 1998 . 9843216 . 10.1038/3877 . 25873360 .
• Ye SK, Maki K, Kitamura T, etal . Induction of germline transcription in the TCRgamma locus by Stat5: implications for accessibility control by the IL-7 receptor. . Immunity . 11 . 2 . 213–23 . 1999 . 10485656 . 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)80096-5 . free .
• Benbernou N, Muegge K, Durum SK . Interleukin (IL)-7 induces rapid activation of Pyk2, which is bound to Janus kinase 1 and IL-7Ralpha. . J. Biol. Chem. . 275 . 10 . 7060–5 . 2000 . 10702271 . 10.1074/jbc.275.10.7060 . free .
• Roifman CM, Zhang J, Chitayat D, Sharfe N . A partial deficiency of interleukin-7R alpha is sufficient to abrogate T-cell development and cause severe combined immunodeficiency. . Blood . 96 . 8 . 2803–7 . 2000 . 11023514 . 10.1182/blood.V96.8.2803.
• Reche PA, Soumelis V, Gorman DM, etal . Human thymic stromal lymphopoietin preferentially stimulates myeloid cells. . J. Immunol. . 167 . 1 . 336–43 . 2001 . 11418668 . 10.4049/jimmunol.167.1.336. free .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Entrez Gene: IL7R interleukin 7 receptor.
2. Goodwin RG, Friend D, Ziegler SF, Jerzy R, Falk BA, Gimpel S, Cosman D, Dower SK, March CJ, Namen AE . Cloning of the human and murine interleukin-7 receptors: demonstration of a soluble form and homology to a new receptor superfamily . Cell . 60 . 6 . 941–51 . March 1990 . 2317865 . 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90342-C . 45181020 .