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Structural Immunology pp 97–117Cite as

Structural Insights into the Interleukin-17 Family Cytokines and Their Receptors

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1172))

Abstract

The IL-17 family in humans consists of six distinct cytokines (IL-17A-F) that can interact with five IL-17 receptors (IL-17RA-E). The interaction between these cytokines and their receptors are critical in mediating host defenses while also making major contributions to inflammatory and autoimmune responses as demonstrated through both in vitro and in vivo experiments as well as human clinical trials. Inhibition of the IL-17A/IL-17RA interaction by monoclonal antibodies has also displayed remarkable efficacies in clinical trials against psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases. Recently, we and others reported the identification and characterization of both small-molecule and peptide IL-17A antagonists. These non-antibody IL-17A antagonists can effectively and selectively disrupt the IL-17A/IL-17RA complex and may provide alternative modalities to treat IL-17-related autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. This chapter summarizes the reported crystal structures of the IL-17 cytokines, their complexes with IL-17RA, and their complexes with both monoclonal antibodies as well as small-molecule and peptide antagonists.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks his Pfizer coworkers and former coworkers who worked on IL-17A antagonist project, and Ruth Sommese for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discovery Sciences, Pfizer Inc., Eastern Point Road, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    Shenping Liu

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  1. Shenping Liu
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Correspondence to Shenping Liu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China

    Tengchuan Jin

  2. Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Qian Yin

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Liu, S. (2019). Structural Insights into the Interleukin-17 Family Cytokines and Their Receptors. In: Jin, T., Yin, Q. (eds) Structural Immunology. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1172. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9367-9_5

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