Structural characterization of a monomeric chemokine: Monocyte chemoattractant protein-3

1H-NMR spectroscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation studies reveal that monocyte chemoattractant protein-3 (MCP-3) is a monomer. NMR solution structure shows that MCP-3 adopts an α/β fold similar to what is observed in structures of other known chemokines. However, MCP-3 is unique in that it does not show a propensity to form dimers. The closely related chemokines MCP-1 and MCP-2 show a monomer-dimer equilibrium in sedimentation equilibrium studies (∼0.2–2 mg/ml). As these proteins are present at nanomolar concentrations in vivo, the results suggest that they are monomeric at functional concentrations and that the monomer is the functionally significant form of MCP-1, MCP-2 and MCP-3.