Macrophages play a critical role in innate immunity. Differentiation Ags present on macrophages such as CD14 orchestrate the first line of defense against infection. The basal/homeostatic signaling scheme that keeps macrophages thus groomed for innate immune functions remains unresolved. Wnt5a–Fz5 signaling being a primordial event during cell differentiation, we examined the involvement of Wnt5a–Fz5 signaling in the maintenance of innate immune functions. In this study, we demonstrate that innate immune functions of macrophages ensue at least partly through a homeostatic Wnt5a–Fz5–NF-κB (p65) circuit, which is Rac1 dependent. The autocrine/paracrine Wnt5a–Fz5–Rac1–p65 signaling cascade not only maintains basal levels of the immune defense modulating IFNs and CD14; it also supports macrophage survival. Wnt5a–Fz5–Rac1 signaling mediated p65 homeostasis in turn sustains Wnt5a expression in a feed-forward mode. The natural immune response of macrophages to Escherichia coli/LPS and virus is accordingly sustained. The depiction of sustenance of innate immune functions as an outcome of a homeostatic Wnt5a–p65 axis unfolds previously unidentified details of immune regulation and provides new insight into homeostatic cell signaling.
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