CXCL12-induced partitioning of flotillin-1 with lipid rafts plays a role in CXCR4 function

Authors:
Giri B, Dixit VD, Ghosh MC, Collins GD, Khan IU, Madara K, Weeraratna AT, Taub DD
In:
Source: Eur J Immunol
Publication Date: (2007)
Issue: 37(8): 2104-16
Research Area:
Immunotherapy / Hematology
Cells used in publication:
Jurkat
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
T cell, human peripheral blood unstim.
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
T cell, human stim.
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
Platform:
Nucleofector® I/II/2b
Abstract
Lipid rafts play an important role in signal integration and in the cellular activation of a number of cytokine and growth factor receptors. It has recently been demonstrated that flotillin proteins are recruited to lipid raft microdomains upon cellular activation and play a role in neural cell regeneration, receptor signaling and lymphocyte activation. However, little is known about the relevance of the flotillin proteins during T cell responses to chemoattractant stimulation. To this end, cytoplasmic and lipid raft fractions from human T cells were analyzed for flotillin protein redistribution prior to and after CXCL12 stimulation. Flotillin-1, but not flotillin-2, redistributes to lipid rafts upon CXCR4 ligation. Moreover, in CXCL12-treated T cells, flotillin-1 also associates with several raft proteins including LAT, CD48 and CD11a but not Lck. In addition, an increase in CXCR4 association with flotillin-1 in lipid rafts was observed after chemokine treatment. RNAi technology was also utilized to inhibit the expression of flotillin-1, resulting in an inhibition of CXCL12-mediated signaling, function and CXCR4 recruitment into lipid rafts. Together, these data suggest that the increased association of cellular flotillin-1 with lipid raft microdomains during chemokine exposure may play an important role in chemokine receptor signaling and receptor partitioning with lipid rafts.