Ligand-induced phosphorylation of anaphylatoxin receptors C3aR and C5aR is mediated by "G protein-coupled receptor kinases.

Continuous stimulation of anaphylatoxin receptors C3aR and C5aR with their cognate ligands engenders, within minutes, diminished responsiveness of these receptors. We tested the hypothesis that agonist-induced desensitization involves C3aR and C5aR phosphorylation by G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK). When expressed in rat basophilic leukemia cells and exposed to C3a, the C3aR underwent rapid (t(1/2) approximately 15 s), dose-dependent (EC50 approximately 10 nM) and reversible phosphorylation by a kinase refractory to the effects of PKC inhibitors. Phosphoamino acid analysis revealed that the C3aR is phosphorylated on serine and threonine, but not on tyrosine residues. Overexpression of GRK2, GRK3, GRK5 or GRK6 together with C3aR in COS-7 cells enhanced the C3a-induced C3aR phosphorylation 1.5 - 1.9-fold (p < 0.05), but each kinase reduced ligand-stimulated phospholipase C activity differently. Conversely, antibody-mediated inhibition of endogenous GRK2 and GRK3 significantly inhibited C3aR phosphorylation in permeabilized cells. GRK overexpression in cells which co-expressed C5aR and were exposed to C5a resulted in the hyperphosphorylation of the C5aR. These findings are of physiological relevance, since we observed anaphylatoxin-induced phosphorylation of C3aR and C5aR endogenously expressed in human mast cells (HMC-1) which contain significant intracellular levels of GRK2 and GRK3.