IgA Fc receptor (FcalphaR) cross-linking recruits tyrosine kinases, phosphoinositide kinases and serine/threonine kinases to glycolipid rafts.

The human IgA Fc receptor (FcalphaR, CD89) triggers several important physiological functions, including phagocytosis, NADPH oxidase activation and antigen presentation. Efforts are underway to delineate FcalphaR signal-transduction pathways that control these functions. In a previous study, we demonstrated that cross-linking of FcalphaR increased its partitioning into membrane glycolipid rafts and was accompanied by gamma-chain-dependent recruitment and phosphorylation of the tyrosine kinases Lck/Yes-related novel protein tyrosine kinase (Lyn) and Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk). Here we have performed a more extensive characterization of signalling effectors recruited to rafts on FcalphaR cross-linking. We demonstrate that in addition to tyrosine kinases Lyn and Btk, FcalphaR cross-linking also recruits B-lymphocyte kinase (Blk) and spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) to rafts. We show recruitment of phosphoinositide kinases, including 3-phosphoinositide 3-kinase and phospholipase Cgamma2, and serine/threonine kinases such as protein kinase C (PKC) alpha, PKCepsilon, and protein kinase B (PKB) alpha. This suggests that lipid rafts serve as sites for FcalphaR-triggered recruitment of multiple classes of signalling effectors. We further demonstrate that tyrosine kinases and PKCalpha have a sustained association with rafts, whereas phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its downstream effectors have a transient association with rafts. This is consistent with temporally regulated divergence of FcalphaR signalling pathways in rafts. Furthermore, we suggest the spatial separation of signalling effectors by transport of phosphoinositide 3-kinase, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1, PKBalpha and PKCepsilon to endocytic compartments containing internalized FcalphaR.