Receptors responsive to extracellular uracil nucleotides

✍ Scribed by Didier Communi; Bernard Robaye; Rodolphe Janssens; Marc Parmentier; Jean-Marie Boeynaems

• Book ID: 101265663
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 110 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2299(199811/12)45:3/4<130::aid-ddr7>3.0.co;2-t

✦ Synopsis

The cloning of P2Y 4 and P2Y 3 (chicken) / P2Y 6 (rat, human) receptors has been the ultimate proof that receptors for pyrimidine nucleotides exist. However, on the basis of their structure these receptors do not constitute a family of their own but belong to the P2Y family, which thus encompasses selective purinoceptors (P2Y 1 , P2Y 11 ), nucleotide receptors responsive to both adenine and uracil nucleotides (P2Y 2 , P2Y 8 ), and pyrimidinoceptors (P2Y 4 responsive to UTP, P2Y 3 /P2Y 6 responsive to UDP). Although the occurrence of uracil nucleotides in extracellular fluids remains poorly documented, the very existence of P2Y receptors selectively responsive to them strongly suggests that UTP and UDP may play a role as intercellular mediators, independently from adenine nucleotides. Northern blotting revealed an expression of the P2Y 6 receptor mRNA in human spleen, thymus, and blood leukocytes, as well as in Jurkat and MOLT-4 T-cell lines. Other experiments revealed an expression in 1HAEo and 16HBE14o cell lines derived from the airway epithelium. These studies suggest a possible role of the P2Y 6 receptor in the immune and respiratory systems.