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cas and also abrogated the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, this mutant did not suppress lipopolysaccharide-inducible NF-B transcription, nor was NF-B activation dependent on the protein kinase C inhibitor, calphostin C. Finally, unlike the cytoskeletal events associated with Tyr-867 autophosphorylation, the transinhibition of NF-B occurred in a postnuclear-dependent fashion independent of cytosolic IB phosphorylation and p65/RelA sequestration. Taken together, these data suggest that Mertk has distinct and separable effects for phagocytosis and for resolving inflammation, providing a molecular rationale for how immune licensing and inflammation can be dissociated from phagocytosis in a single phagocytic receptor.

The role of the presumptive phosphatidylserine receptor (PSR) in the recognition and engulfment of apoptotic cells, and the antiinflammatory response they exert, has been of great interest. Genetic deficiency of PSR in the mouse is lethal perinatally, and results to date have been ambiguous with regard to the phagocytic and inflammatory phenotypes associated with that deficiency. Recently, we found that the specific functional recognition of apoptotic cells is a ubiquitous property of virtually all cell types, including mouse embryo fibroblasts, and reflects an innate immunity that discriminates live from effete cells. Physiological cell death is a process whose purpose is the elimination of functionally inappropriate cells in a manner that does not elicit inflammation. The ability of apoptotic corpses to be cleared in a noninflammatory manner by phagocytes is a consequence of their specific expression of determinants for recognition and modulation of pro-inflammatory responses. The acquisition of these apoptotic determinants is a gain-of-function common to all physiological cell deaths, without regard to suicidal stimulus, and conserved widely across species (1, 2).Numerous cellular alterations associated with apoptotic cell death have been described, including plasma membrane reorganization associated with blebbing (3), shrinkage, and the loss of membrane phospholipid asymmetry (4, 5). In particular, phosphatidylserine (PS), 4 an anionic phospholipid normally cloistered in the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane, is externalized during physiological cell death (5). It still remains to be determined what specific molecular events are responsible for the recognition of the effete cell.The view that externalized PS serves as a ligand for macrophage recognition of apoptotic cells followed from studies demonstrating that similar changes target aged erythrocytes for clearance (6, 7) and gained support from observations that phospho-L-serine and PS vesicles could inhibit partially the interaction of dying nucleated cells with macrophages (5,8,9).A presumptive cell surface PS-specific receptor (PSR) was identified molecularly following a screen for monoclonal antibodies whose binding to human macrophages was inhibited by PS-containing liposomes (10). The product of that screen, mAb 217, bound to cell surface determinants on macrophages and other cell types, notably excluding lymphoid cells. Significantly, mAb 217 triggered macrophages to release the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF␤, further suggesting that mAb 217 engaged an apoptotic-like recognition mechanism (10).Controversy regarding this presumptive receptor arose, however, when PSR was observed to localize to the nucleus in mammalian cells (11) as well as in Hydra (12). The role of PSR has been further clouded by the disparate results of three groups of investigators who independently generated mice with targeted disruptions of the PSR locus (13-15). While homozygous PSR disruptions result in perinatal lethality in each case, different effects on the phagocytosi...

Genetic studies in Caenorhabditis elegans identified an evolutionarily conserved CED-2 (CrkII), CED-5 (DOCK180), CED-12 (ELMO), CED-10 (Rac1) module important for cell migration and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. Previous studies have shown that DOCK180 and ELMO comprise an unconventional bipartite Dbl homology domain-independent Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor (Rac-GEF); but it is still unclear how CrkII functions in Rac-GEF activity. In this study, we have characterized a unique function of CrkII in phagocytosis and Rac activation mediated by the C-terminal SH3 domain, a region of CrkII that has no clear cellular or biochemical function. We found that mutations that disrupt the C-terminal SH3 domain of CrkII (CrkII-SH3-C) abrogate engulfment of apoptotic cells and impair cell spreading on extracellular matrix. Surprisingly, despite the effects on engulfment, W276K CrkII strongly potentiated Rac-GTP loading when ectopically expressed in HEK 293T cells. Contrary to the effects of the true dominant negative SH2 domain mutants (R38K CrkII) and SH3-N domain mutants (W170K CrkII) that prevent macromolecular assembly of signaling proteins, W276K CrkII increases association between DOCK180 and CrkII as well as constitutive tethering of the Crk/DOCK180/ELMO protein complex that interacted with RhoG. Our results indicate that while N-terminal SH3 of CrkII promotes assembly between CrkII and DOCK180, the C-terminal SH3 of CrkII regulates the stability and turnover of the DOCK180/ELMO complex. Studies with W276K CrkII may offer a unique opportunity to study the structure and function of the DOCK180/ELMO Rac-GEF.

The PS-R gene product was originally described as a cell surface receptor that interacts with externalized phosphatidylserine (PS) on apoptotic cells, but more recent studies have shown that it plays a critical role in organ development and terminal differentiation of many cell types during embryogenesis. Despite these important developmental functions, the biochemical and molecular properties of PS-R are poorly understood. Here we have used several approaches to show that PS-R undergoes processive post-translational protein cross-linking to form covalent multimers within the nuclear compartment. Although PS-R has a potential Glu-Glu (QQ) duet that is often targeted by transglutaminase TG-2, the oligomerization of PS-R was not effected by QQ fi AA mutation, or when PS-R gene product was expressed in TG-2 (-/-) fibroblasts. Pulse-chase experiments with 35 S-methionine indicates that the PS-R undergoes an initial proteolytic cleavage, followed by progressive multimerization of the monomeric subunits over time. In summary, we report here that PS-R is modified by an unusual post-translational modification, and we speculate that homomultimer of PS-R might be playing an important function as a scaffolding protein in the nucleus.