MIT Media Lab researchers have discovered that shortened versions of immunity-related protein receptors, long written off as incomplete and therefore nonfunctional, can bind with their natural counterparts on the cell membrane and may represent pathways to new medications, therapies, and bionic body parts. Although chemokine receptors with truncated structure have previously been considered biologically inconsequential, a paper published in Cell Press’s iScience journal reports that truncated versions of two such receptors, CXCR4 and CCR5, bind with their corresponding ligands and play a role in protein functionality. “This unexpected discovery that short receptors…
