The colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor 4 is a member of the type III receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family, which includes c-Kit, platelet-derived growth factor receptor ␣ and , and Flt3 (1). All of the functions of colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) are mediated by CSF-1R, which is the primary regulator of the common myeloid lineage consisting of osteoclasts and mononuclear phagocytes (monocytes and macrophages) in vivo (2-5).Ligand binding induces CSF-1R dimerization and autophosphorylation on tyrosine residues that regulate both kinase activity and mediate binding to downstream SH2 and PTB domain-containing proteins. Recruitment of such proteins leads to activation of signaling cascades involved in determining the biological outcomes of CSF-1R activation as well as receptor down-regulation (6 -8).A number of adaptor proteins, including Gads/Mona, FMIP, DOK-2, and c-Cbl, have been implicated as negative regulators of CSF-1R signaling. c-Cbl possesses a variant SH2 domain (TKB domain) that mediates binding to activated tyrosine kinases and a RING finger domain demonstrated to confer E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, which promotes the ubiquitination of activated tyrosine kinases (9, 10). In c-Cbl-deficient macrophages, both CSF-1R ubiquitination and endocytosis of the ubiquitinated receptor are impaired (11). Subsequent to CSF-1R ubiquitination, activated CSF-1R is degraded intralysosomally (12). The degradation of ligand-stimulated CSF-1R normally occurs rapidly, and the half-life of the CSF-1R decreases from 3 h to 5 min upon ligand binding (13,14). Mutation of the tyrosine residue within the c-Cbl binding site (Tyr-969 in human CSF-1R) has been frequently observed in myelodysplasia and acute myeloblastic leukemia (15). Similarly, the transforming viral homologue of CSF-1R, v-Fms, lacks the c-Cbl binding site. Importantly, re-addition of the c-Cbl binding site to v-Fms decreases its transforming activity (16).Src-like adaptor protein family proteins, SLAP and SLAP-2, have an amino-terminal myristoylation signal required for association with cell membranes, closely juxtaposed SH3 and SH2 domains, and a unique carboxyl-terminal region that mediates association with c-Cbl. Both SLAP and SLAP-2 have been demonstrated to function as negative regulators of T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) signaling via a mechanism requiring the c-Cbl binding region (17)(18)(19). In addition to c-Cbl, SLAP-2 associates with the Zap-70 and Syk cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases and promotes their degradation when co-expressed. Recent work has shown that SLAP functions as a negative regulator of the TCR by promoting c-Cbl-dependent ubiquitination of TCR chain and down-regulation of the CD3 complex (17,20,21). In addition, both SLAP and SLAP-2 have been implicated as negative regulators of B-cell receptor signaling (19,22), and avian SLAP has been demonstrated to interfere with erythropoietin signaling in erythroblasts (23).Although SLAP and SLAP-2 have been implicated in the regulation of antigen receptor signaling, SLAP was originally dis-* ...