A recombinant partial protein sequence (within amino acids 1-200) from the human protein was used as the immunogen for the IL-18R alpha antibody.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) has been identified as a molecule that induces IFN-Gamma production and enhances NK cell cytotoxicity. IL-18 receptor (IL-18R) is a type I membrane protein present in lung, leukocytes, spleen, liver, thymus, prostate, small intestine, colon, placenta and heart, and absent from brain, skeletal muscle, pancreas and kidney. IL-18R is present in Hodgkin s disease cell lines, and does not bind IL-1Alpha or IL-1beta. The association of IL-18 to IL-18R leads to activation of NFkB. At present two subunits of IL-18R have been characterized: IL-18RAlpha and IL-18Rbeta. IL-18RAlpha has been described as the ligand-binding chain and IL-18Rbeta as the signal-transduction chain.
