NKG2D ligand 3 (NKG2D ligand 3, NKG2DL3, N2DL-3, ALCAN-gamma, retinoic acid early transcript 1N, ULBP3, N2DL3, RAET1N)

Function

• ligand for NKG2D receptor, together with at least ULBP1 & ULBP2
• ULBPs activate multiple signaling pathways in primary NK cells, resulting in production of cytokines & chemokines
• binding of ULBPs ligands to NKG2D induces Ca+2 mobilization & activation of JAK2, STAT5, ERK & PI3K kinase/Akt signal transduction pathway
• lower affinity for NKG2D compared to ULBP1 & ULBP2 & induces weaker signaling responses than does ULBP2 or ULBP
• does not bind to beta2-microglobulin
• unlikely to present peptides

Structure

• belongs to the MHC class I family
• ULBPs are unusual members of the extended MHC class 1 superfamily, because they do not contain the alpha 3 domain & they lack a transmembrane domain

Compartment

cell membrane, GPI-anchor

Pathology

• in contrast to ULBP2, does not interact with soluble CMV glycoprotein UL16

Genetics

• region from chromosome 6q24.1-6q25.3 contains as many as 10 ULBP-related sequences, many of which are pseudogenes

More general terms

• NKG2D ligand (NKG2D)

Database

• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/605699
• UniProt: http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/Q9BZM4.html