The transmembrane adaptor protein PAG/CBP (here, PAG) is expressed in multiple cell types. Tyrosine-phosphorylated PAG serves as an anchor for C-terminal SRC kinase, an inhibitor of SRC-family kinases. The role of PAG as a negative regulator of immunoreceptor signaling has been examined in several model systems, but no functions in vivo have been determined. Here, we examined the activation of bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) with PAG knockout and PAG knockdown and the corresponding controls. Our data show that PAG-deficient BMMCs exhibit impaired antigen-induced degranulation, extracellular calcium uptake, tyrosine phosphorylation of several key signaling proteins (including the high-affinity IgE receptor subunits, spleen tyrosine kinase, and phospholipase C), production of several cytokines and chemokines, and chemotaxis. The enzymatic activities of the LYN and FYN kinases were increased in nonactivated cells, suggesting the involvement of a LYN-and/or a FYNdependent negative regulatory loop. When BMMCs from PAG-knockout mice were activated via the KIT receptor, enhanced degranulation and tyrosine phosphorylation of the receptor were observed. In vivo experiments showed that PAG is a positive regulator of passive systemic anaphylaxis. The combined data indicate that PAG can function as both a positive and a negative regulator of mast cell signaling, depending upon the signaling pathway involved.
Mast cells are widely distributed in the body, where they play important roles in innate as well as adaptive immune responses (1). To fulfill their role in adaptive immune responses, the cells express the high-affinity IgE receptor FcεRI on their plasma membranes. Aggregation of this tetrameric immunoreceptor, ␣␥2, induces cell signaling events leading to the release of preformed inflammatory mediators and the de novo synthesis and release of leukotrienes, cytokines, and chemokines. The first welldefined biochemical step after FcεRI triggering is tyrosine phosphorylation of the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs in the cytoplasmic tail of the FcεRI  and ␥ subunits by the SRC family protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) LYN (2, 3). The phosphorylated  and ␥ subunits then serve as binding and activation sites for LYN kinase and spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), respectively. These two enzymes, together with FYN and other kinases, then phosphorylate various adaptor proteins and enzymes with a variety of functions in signal transduction pathways. The exact molecular events preceding LYN-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of the FcεRI  subunit are not clear, and several models have been proposed, including the transphosphorylation model (4), the lipid raft model (5), and the PTK-protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) interplay model (6).Our previous study with murine bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) showed that FcεRI triggering induced transient hyperphosphorylation of LYN kinase on its C-terminal regulatory tyrosine (Tyr 487), leading to the formation of a closed inactive conformation where the SRC homology 2 (...