Fig. 1  Structures of receptor for advanced glycation end products and its three main isoforms. Full-length receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) has three different extracellular domains (V, C, C') and one cytosolic domain. Multi-ligands bind to the V-type domain and transduce signals through the intracellular domain. The N-truncated isoform lacks the V-type domain, which fails to have receptor-ligand interactions. The dominant-negative form has no cytosolic domain and is not able to transduce signals into the cell. Soluble RAGE is formed either by alternative splicing or protease activity and is secreted and prevents ligands from binding to RAGE. V, variable domain; C, constant domain.