Signaling conformations of the tall cytokine receptor gp130 when in complex with IL-6 and IL-6 receptor

gp130 is a shared cytokine signaling receptor and the founding member of the 'tall class of cytokine receptors. A crystal structure of the ligand-binding domains of gp130 in complex with human interleukin-6 (IL-6) and its alpha-receptor (IL-6R alpha) revealed a hexameric architecture in which the gp130 membrane-distal regions were similar to 100 angstrom apart, in contrast to the close apposition seen between short cytokine receptor complexes. Here we used single-particle EM to visualize the entire extracellular hexameric IL-6-IL-6R alpha-gp130 complex, containing all six gp130 domains. The structure reveals that gp130 is bent such that the membrane-proximal domains of gp130 are close together at the cell surface, enabling activation of intracellular signaling. Variation in the receptor bend angles suggests a possible conformational transition from open to closed states upon ligand binding; this transition is probably representative of the other tall cytokine receptors.