We have identified a novel member of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor family, which we have termed AcPL. In transient transfection assays, we were unable to demonstrate a role for AcPL in IL-1-induced activation of NFB. Interleukin-18 (interferon-␥-inducing factor) is another member of the IL-1 family of cytokines, and it has recently been shown that IL-18 has a weak affinity for IL-1R-rp1. We examined whether AcPL might function alone or in concert with IL-1R-rp1 to mediate IL-18 signaling. We found that both IL-1R-rp1 and AcPL expression were required for induction of NFB activity and for activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase in response to IL-18. Furthermore, a dominant negative version of AcPL specifically inhibited IL-18 signaling. In vitro immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that AcPL alone was unable to bind IL-18 with any appreciable affinity. We propose that although IL-1R-rp1 binds the cytokine, IL-1R-rp1 and AcPL proteins are both required for IL-18 signaling, analogous to the requirement for both IL-1R and IL-1RAcP in IL-1-mediated responses.

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Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is an inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to enhance a variety of Th1 type T cell responses. Because IL-18 is homologous to IL-1, we tested binding of IL-18 to the known IL-1R family members. We could show binding of IL-18 to the orphan receptor IL-1Rrp1 but not to other IL-1R homologous proteins. IL-1Rrp1 and IL-1RI share highly conserved domains within their cytoplasmic regions. Comparison of the IL-1 and IL-18 signaling mechanisms showed that they activate identical cytoplasmic messengers. IL-18, like IL-1, induced association of its receptor with IRAK and subsequent recruitment of TRAF6. IL-18 activated p38 MAP kinase, jun kinase, and beta casein kinase (TIP kinase), an apparently novel kinase previously thought to be specifically activated by IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). IL-18 activated NF-kappaB in EL4/6.1 thymoma cells but not in COS-7 cells, even though the latter presumably contain all components required for the IL-1 signaling pathway. From our binding and signaling studies, we conclude that the IL-18 receptor complex consists of IL-18, the IL-1Rrp1, and another thus far unidentified receptor molecule.

The pathways by which uracil, cytosine, uridine, cytidine, deoxyuridine, and deoxycytidine are metabolized by Salmonella typhimurium are established. The various 5-fluoropyrimidine analogues are shown to exert their toxic effects only after having been converted to the nucleotide level, and these conversions are shown to be catalyzed by the same enzymes which similarly convert the natural substrates. Methods for isolating mutant strains blocked in various steps of metabolism of pyrimidine bases and nucleosides are described.