Cloning of the Murine Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (Tslp) Receptor: Formation of a Functional Heteromeric Complex Requires Interleukin 7 Receptor

The cellular receptor for murine thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) was detected in a variety of murine, but not human myelomonocytic cell lines by radioligand binding. cDNA clones encoding the receptor were isolated from a murine T helper cell cDNA library. TSLP receptor (TSLPR) is a member of the hematopoietin receptor family. Transfection of TSLPR cDNA resulted in only low affinity binding. Cotransfection of the interleukin 7 (IL-7)Rα chain cDNA resulted in conversion to high affinity binding. TSLP did not activate cells from IL-7Rα^−/− mice, but did activate cells from γc^−/− mice. Thus, the functional TSLPR requires the IL-7Rα chain, but not the γc chain for signaling.