Equilibrium and kinetic analysis of human interleukin-13 and IL-13 receptor alpha-2 complex formation

Interleukin 13 (IL-13) is a pleiotropic cytokine secreted by activated T cells. Both IL-13 and its polymorphic variant (IL-13-R110Q) have been shown to be associated with multiple diseases such as asthma and allergy. Two IL-13 receptors have been identified, IL-13R alpha-1 receptor (IL-13R alpha 1) and IL-13R alpha-2 receptor (IL-13R alpha 2). It has been well established that IL-13 binds to IL-13R alpha 1 alone with low nM affinity while binding to the IL-13R alpha 1/IL-4R receptor complex is significantly tighter (pM). The affinity between IL-13 and IL-13R alpha 2, however, remains elusive. Several values have been reported in the literature varying from 20 pM to 2.5 nM. The affinities previously reported were obtained using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or Scatchard analysis of I-125-IL-13 binding data. This report presents the results for the kinetics and equilibrium binding analysis studies performed using label-free kinetic exclusion assay (KEA) for the interaction of human IL-13 and IL-13R alpha 2. KEA equilibrium analysis showed that the affinities of IL-13R alpha 2 are 107 and 56 pM for IL-13 and its variant (IL-13-R110Q), respectively. KEA kinetic analysis showed that a tight and very stable complex is formed between IL-13Ra alpha 2 and IL-13, as shown by calculated dissociation rate constants slower than 5 X 10(-5) per second. Kinetic analysis also showed significant differences in the kinetic behavior of wild type (wt) versus IL-13-R110Q. IL-13-R110Q not only associates to IL-13R alpha 2 slower than wt human IL-13 (wt-IL-13), as previously reported, but IL-13-R110Q also dissociates slower than wt-IL-13. These results show that IL-13R alpha 2 is a high affinity receptor and provide a new perspective on kinetic behavior that could have significant implications in the understanding of the role of IL-13-R110Q in the disease state. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.