Many NTRs are inhibitory and bind molecules expressed on normal cells. Whether a white cell is activated depends on the balance between the number of activatory and inhibitory NTRs that are engaged when it interacts with another cell. We have shown that signal integration between these NTRs requires close colocalization, and have proposed that this membrane-proximal signal integration enables leukocytes to sensitively detect and selectively eliminate abnormal cells. NTRs often aggregate into clusters following ligand binding. We suggest that one reason for this clustering is to enhance discrimination between low and high affinity ligands.

Faculty host: Cheng Zhu, PhD