Structure Article Decoy Strategies: The Structure of TL1A:DcR3 Complex Chenyang Zhan,1 Yury Patskovsky,1 Qingrong Yan,2 Zhenhong Li,1 Udupi Ramagopal,1 Huiyong Cheng,1 Michael Brenowitz,1 Xiao Hui,3 Stanley G. Nathenson,2,4 and Steven C. Almo1,5,* 1Department of Biochemistry 2Department of Cell Biology 3Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology 4Department of Microbiology and Immunology 5Department of Physiology and Biophysics Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA *Correspondence:
[email protected] DOI 10.1016/j.str.2010.12.004 SUMMARY domains (CRDs), which bind the interprotomer grooves formed between adjacent ligand monomers. This mode of interaction Decoy Receptor 3 (DcR3), a secreted member of the results in ligand:receptor assemblies with 3:3 stoichiometries Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) receptor superfamily, that span two interacting cells. The ligand-mediated clustering neutralizes three different TNF ligands: FasL, LIGHT, of TNFRs directs the recruitment of signaling adaptor proteins, and TL1A. Each of these ligands engages unique such as TNF receptor associated factors (TRAFs) or death signaling receptors which direct distinct and critical domain adaptor proteins, and initiates diverse downstream immune responses. We report the crystal structures signaling pathways. Some TNFRs are also produced as soluble forms due to alter- of the unliganded DcR3 ectodomain and its complex nate mRNA splicing or selective proteolytic cleavage (Cheng with TL1A, as well as complementary mutagenesis et al., 1994; Locksley et al., 2001; Van Zee et al., 1992). The met- and biochemical studies. These analyses demon- alloprotease-mediated cleavage of two TNF-a receptors (TNFR1 strate that DcR3 interacts with invariant backbone and TNFR2) has been reported to attenuate proinflammatory and side-chain atoms in the membrane-proximal TNF-a-associated signaling, possibly by reducing the amount half of TL1A which supports recognition of its three of cell surface receptors and by the sequestration/neutralization distinct TNF ligands.