Chemokine (C-X-C Motif) Ligand 16 (CXCL16) protein
Description
CXCL16 (CXC chemokine 16) is a nonELR motifcontaining CXC chemokine with a transmembrane domain. CX3CL1/Fractalkine and CXCL16 are the only two transmembrane chemokines within the superfamily. Mouse CXCL16 cDNA encodes a 246 amino acid (aa) precursor protein with a putative 26 aa residue signal peptide,an 88 aa residue chemokine domain, an 87 aa residue mucinlike spacer region, a 22 aa residue transmembrane domain, and a 23 aa residue cytoplasmic tail. Mouse and human CXCL16 share 49% overall aa identity and 70% similarity in the chemokine domains. Mouse CXCL16 is produced by dendritic cells in lymphoid organ T cell zones and by cells in the splenic red pulp both as membranebound and soluble forms. Based on northern blot analysis,CXCL16 is also expressed in some nonlymphoid tissues such as lung, small intestine and kidney. The receptor for CXCL16 has been identified as CXCR6/Bonzo (STRL33 and TYMSTR), a receptor previously shown to be a coreceptor for HIV entry.CXCR6 is expressed on naive CD8 cells, natural killer T cells and activated CD8 and CD4 T cells.