Abstract
The signal regulating proteins (SIRPs) are a family of ubiquitously expressed transmembrane glycoproteins composed of two subgroups: SIRP alpha and SIRP beta, containing more than ten members. SIRP alpha has been shown to inhibit signalling through a variety of receptors including receptor tyrosine kinases and cytokine receptors. This function involves protein tyrosine kinases and is dependent on immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motifs which recruit key protein tyrosine phosphatases to the membrane. Negative regulation by SIRP alpha may also involve its ligand, CD47, in a bi-directional signalling mechanism. The SIRP beta subtype has no cytoplasmic domain but instead associates with at least one other transmembrane protein (DAP-12, or KARAP). DAP-12 possesses immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs within its cytoplasmic domain that are thought to link SIRP beta to activating machinery. SIRP alpha and SIRP beta thus have complementary roles in signal regulation and may conspire to tune the response to a stimulus.