Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP, MIM 135100) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by congenital great toe malformations and progressive heterotopic ossification transforming skeletal muscles and connective tissues to bone following a well-defined anatomic pattern of progression. bind the regulatory protein FKBP12 and to undergo multiple phosphorylation events that trigger a signaling cascade inside the cell. The novel amino-acid substitution is predicted to influence either the conformation/stability of the GS region or the binding affinity with FKBP12, resulting in a less stringent inhibitory control on the ACVR1 kinase activity. as the gene responsible for FOP. All familial and sporadic cases of classic FOP reported to date are heterozygous for the same mutation, c.617G>A, leading to the amino-acid substitution, R206H.4, 6, 7 A series of patients with phenotypic and genotypic variants of FOP was recently described.4, 6, 7, 8 An additional patient with an FOP variant was recently identified with a mutation, G356R, associated with the disease.9 The gene encodes the activin A type I receptor (also known as activin receptor-like kinase 2, ALK2), a receptor for bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs).10 ACVR1 is a type I serine/threonine receptor kinase belonging to the transforming growth factor-receptor (TGFBR1) family, composed of seven receptors (ALKs 1C7) (for a review, see Graham and Peng11), which, together with type II receptors, form a heterotetrameric complex at the cell membrane.12, 13, 14 Both receptor types have an extracellular ligand-binding domain, a single transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic 104807-46-7 serine/threonine kinase domain. Type I receptors contain an additional regulatory domain that is not present in type II receptors. This region, known as the GS domain for its conserved glycineCserine-rich sequence, is phosphorylated by type II receptors to trigger the signaling cascade inside the cell following receptor-binding by ligand.13, 14, 15 Downstream events are mediated by phosphorylation of the regulatory SMAD proteins (R-SMADs), which bind SMAD 4. Then, the complex translocates to the nucleus where it modulates the expression of specific target genes.16 By contrast, inhibitory SMADs, such as SMAD 6 and 7, are involved in the ligand-dependent termination of signaling.16 The conserved GS domain plays an important regulatory role for type I receptors. It is well documented that this region physically interacts with the in combination with BMPs, FK506 can induce osteogenesis.20 Recent evidence shows that FKBP12 binding to the GS domain of type 1 BMP receptors helps to maintain the receptor inactivation, preventing leaky signaling in the absence of ligand. Because of high-affinity interaction, FK506 can displace FKBP12 from the receptor, which is then able to transduce downstream signaling and to promote osteogenesis.20 Additionally, FKBP12 plays a second functional role on the GS domain. Recent studies on the ALK4 receptor demonstrate that, upon ligand stimulation, 104807-46-7 FKBP12 transiently dissociates from the activated receptor. Rebinding to the ALK4 GS region, a few hours later, mediates the recruitment of inhibitory SMAD7 and SMURF1 (smad ubiquitin regulatory factor 1), 104807-46-7 an E3 ubiquitine ligase. The resulting receptor ubiquitination causes the termination of the intracellular signaling.19 FKBP12 is a member of a protein family composed, in the human genome, by at least 15 distinct homologous genes.21 To date, experimental evidence of a direct interaction of ACVR1 with FKBP12 is still lacking. It is, however, likely that either FKBP12 or one of its paralogues has a regulatory role in ACVR1 activity. Although Mouse monoclonal to CD37.COPO reacts with CD37 (a.k.a. gp52-40 ), a 40-52 kDa molecule, which is strongly expressed on B cells from the pre-B cell sTage, but not on plasma cells. It is also present at low levels on some T cells, monocytes and granulocytes. CD37 is a stable marker for malignancies derived from mature B cells, such as B-CLL, HCL and all types of B-NHL. CD37 is involved in signal transduction the three-dimensional structure of ACVR1 has not been determined, the crystal structure of the homologous TGFBR1 in complex with FKBP124, 22 can be used to build, by homology, a three-dimensional model of the cytoplasmic portion of ACVR1. The good reliability of the model is determined by the high degree of sequence similarity between ACVR1 and TGFBR1 (66% identical residues) and the lack of insertions or deletions in the pairwise sequence alignment. Using such model, it was possible to show that the basic arginine residue, R206, at the end of the ACVR1 GS domain of the protein, conserved across mammals and mutated in FOP patients, forms a salt bridge with an.