Syk kinase, tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins and actin filaments accumulate at forming phagosomes during Fcgamma receptor-mediated phagocytosis.

Phagocytosis mediated by Fcgamma receptors (FcgammaRs) is thought to be regulated by a cascade of tyrosine phosphorylation events that finally leads to the rearrangement of submembranous actin-based cytoskeleton and internalization of particles. Suggestions concerning the functional relationship between protein tyrosine kinases, their substrates, and actin filament reorganization prompted us to determine cellular distribution of these elements during uptake of IgG-coated particles in murine thio-macrophages. We found that the onset of uptake of the particles was accompanied by tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins, among which 90, 50, 40, 30, and 25 kDa polypeptides were distinguished. In most of the proteins the tyrosine hyperphosphorylation persisted up to 3 min of the uptake; however, kinetics of the phosphorylation of individual proteins varied. Immunofluorescence data showed that the phosphotyrosine-bearing proteins were localized in regions of the particle uptake, being concentrated at phagocytic cups and nascent phagosomes. The local enrichment in tyrosine phosphorylated proteins was correlated with accumulation of actin filaments at these early stages of phagosome formation. During phagosome maturation, both tyrosine phosphorylated proteins and microfilaments disappeared from the periphagosomal regions. Syk, one of the tyrosine kinases, was translocated to the regions where FcgammaR-mediated phagocytosis had started. On the contrary, no enrichment in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase was detected in these places.