Entropically Driven Receptor-Ligand Interaction; Molecular Recognition of Human Inhibitory Receptor Leukocyte Immunoglobulin-Like Receptors (LILRs)

Abstract

Protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions are fundamental in self and non-self recognition in immune system. Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B1 (LILRB1) and LILRB2 are human inhibitory receptors which recognize major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and take part in immune regulation. In this review, we demonstrated detailed thermodynamic and kinetic studies of interactions between LILRs and MHC class I molecules, and structural analyses by X-ray crystallography and NMR. Our data shows the binding mode involving some conformational adjustment without a very large conformational reduction in flexibility at the binding interface.