IL6R

Interleukin 6 receptor (IL6R), also called IL6Q, gp80 or CD126, is a type I cytokine receptor. IL6R is a protein complex made up of an IL-6 receptor subunit and IL6 signal transducer glycoprotein 130 (gp130). IL-6 is a manifold cytokine which enables exert its signal through two extracellular routes.
The first one, named "classic" IL-6 signaling, depended on IL-6 binding the membrane IL-6R, which in turn results in dimerization of the second receptor subunit gp130 and initiation of intracellular signaling cascades. Different from gp130, which is found on almost every cell of the body, IL6R is expressed much more restricted with primary hepatocytes and certain leukocyte subtypes bearing IL6R. Signaling through membrane-bound IL6R is rather anti-inflammatory, and has reported being critically related to plasma cell differentiation, the acute phase response, and fever induction. The second one, IL-6 is able to engage a soluble form of the IL6R in solution with the same affinity as the membrane-bound receptor. The resulting binary cytokine complex displays agonistic properties and can activate cells that only express gp130 but lack membrane-bound IL6R.
Gene ID: 3570
UniProt ID: P08887