The Discovery of Novel Experimental Therapies for Inflammatory Arthritis

Figure 1

The IL-7/IL-7R Pathway. The IL-7R is composed of a 𝛾C and R𝛼 polypeptide. The R𝛼 component is unique to the IL-7R, whereas 𝛾C is common to several cytokine-mediated pathways, including IL-2, IL-4, IL-9, IL-15 and IL-21. The binding of IL-7 to R𝛼 results in the dimerization of 𝛾C and R𝛼. JAK3 is associated with 𝛾C. After dimerization of 𝛾C with R𝛼, JAK3 can phosphorylate R𝛼 and/or JAK1. Activation of JAK3 results in phosphorylation of STAT5. Phosphorylation of STAT5 is required for STAT5 to act as a transcription factor (reviewed in [26]).