The chemokine receptor CXCR4 is rapidly targeted for lysosomal degradation by the E3 ubiquitin ligase atrophin-interacting protein 4 (AIP4). Although it is known that AIP4 mediates ubiquitination and degradation of CXCR4 and that perturbations in these events contribute to disease, the mechanisms mediating AIP4-dependent regulation of CXCR4 degradation remain poorly understood. Here we show that AIP4 directly interacts with the amino-terminal half of nonvisual arrestin-2 via its WW domains. We show that depletion of arrestin-2 by small interfering RNA blocks agonist-promoted degradation of CXCR4 by preventing CXCR4 trafficking from early endosomes to lysosomes. Surprisingly, CXCR4 internalization and ubiquitination remain intact, suggesting that the interaction between arrestin-2 and AIP4 is not required for ubiquitination of the receptor at the plasma membrane but perhaps for a later post-internalization event. Accordingly, we show that activation of CXCR4 promotes the interaction between AIP4 and arrestin-2 that is consistent with a time when AIP4 co-localizes with arrestin-2 on endocytic vesicles. Taken together, our data suggest that the AIP4⅐arrestin-2 complex functions on endosomes to regulate sorting of CXCR4 into the degradative pathway.The chemokine receptor CXCR4, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), 3 together with its cognate ligand, stromal cell-derived factor-1␣, also termed CXCL12, play an important role in several biological processes such as development of the heart and brain, leukocyte chemotaxis, and stem cell homing (1-3). Although CXCR4 dysregulation has been linked to several pathologies, especially cancer, the molecular mechanisms regulating CXCR4 remain poorly understood (4, 5). Activated CXCR4 is targeted for lysosomal degradation through a pathway involving ubiquitination of carboxyl-terminal tail lysine residues mediated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase atrophininteracting protein 4 (AIP4) (6, 7). AIP4 belongs to the neural precursor cell-expressed developmentally down-regulated gene 4-like family of homologous to E6-AP carboxyl-terminal domain E3 ubiquitin ligases, which interact with their target proteins either directly or indirectly via their WW domains or possibly other domains (8, 9).In addition, AIP4 regulates endosomal sorting of activated CXCR4 by targeting the receptor to the endosomal sorting complex required for transport pathway (7), which is a complex network of proteins that recognize and sort ubiquitinated cargo into the multivesicular body (10). Entry into this pathway requires the action of HRS, a ubiquitin-binding protein localized to flat clathrin lattices on endosomes adjacent to invaginating domains, where it sequesters ubiquitinated cargo destined for entry into the multivesicular body for subsequent degradation (11, 12). CXCR4 and AIP4 localize to HRS-positive microdomains on endosomes (7). In addition, AIP4 mediates CXCR4-dependent ubiquitination of HRS, an action that likely plays a role in the sorting function of HRS (7). Whether additional proteins play a role in ...