Immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif

An immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM), is a conserved sequence of amino acids (S/I/V/LxYxxI/V/L) that is found in the cytoplasmic tails of many inhibitory receptors of the immune system. After ITIM-possessing inhibitory receptors interact with their ligand, their ITIM motif becomes phosphorylated by enzymes of the Src kinase family, allowing them to recruit other enzymes such as the phosphotyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2, or the inositol-phosphatase called SHIP. These phosphatases decrease the activation of molecules involved in cell signaling. A list of human candidate ITIM-containing proteins has been generated by proteome-wide scans.