A potent dimeric peptide antagonist of interleukin-5 that binds two interleukin-5 receptor α chains

Two series of peptides that specifically bind to the extracellular domain of the α chain of the human interleukin-5 receptor (IL-5Rα), but share no primary sequence homology to IL-5, were identified from libraries of random recombinant peptides. Affinity maturation procedures generated a 19-aa peptide that binds to the IL-5 receptor α/β heterodimer complex with an affinity equal to that of IL-5 and is a potent and specific antagonist of IL-5 activity in a human eosinophil adhesion assay. The active form of the peptide is a disulfide-crosslinked dimer that forms spontaneously in solution. Gel filtration analysis, receptor-binding studies, and analytical ultracentrifugation reveal that the dimeric peptide binds simultaneously to two receptor α chains in solution. Furthermore, the dimer peptide, but not IL-5, can activate a chimeric receptor consisting of the IL-5Rα extracellular domain fused to the intracellular domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor, thus demonstrating that the peptide also promotes receptor dimerization in a cellular context. The functional antagonism produced by the bivalent interaction of the dimeric peptide with two IL-5R α chains represents a distinctive mechanism for the antagonism of cytokines that use heteromeric receptors.