Significance of glycosphingolipid fatty acid chain length on membrane microdomain-mediated signal transduction

Iwabuchi, Kazuhisa; Nakayama, Hitoshi; Iwahara, Chihiro; Takamori, Kenji

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.10.043

« Previous Next »FEBS Letters
Volume 584, Issue 9 , Pages 1642-1652, 3 May 2010

Significance of glycosphingolipid fatty acid chain length on membrane microdomain-mediated signal transduction

Edited by Sandro Sonnino

Kazuhisa Iwabuchi
- Institute for Environmental and Gender-specific Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Urayasu, Chiba 279-0023, Japan
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Juntendo University School of Health Care and Nursing, Japan
- Corresponding author. Address: Institute for Environmental and Gender-specific Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Urayasu, Chiba 279-0023, Japan. Fax: +81 47 353 3178.
Hitoshi Nakayama
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Juntendo University School of Health Care and Nursing, Japan
Chihiro Iwahara
- Institute for Environmental and Gender-specific Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Urayasu, Chiba 279-0023, Japan
Kenji Takamori
- Institute for Environmental and Gender-specific Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Urayasu, Chiba 279-0023, Japan

Received 17 September 2009; received in revised form 15 October 2009; accepted 15 October 2009. published online 21 October 2009.

Abstract

Lactosylceramide (LacCer), a neutral glycosphingolipid, is abundantly expressed on human neutrophils, and specifically recognizes several pathogenic microorganisms. LacCer forms membrane microdomains coupled with the Src family kinase Lyn on the plasma membrane, and ligand binding to LacCer activates Lyn, resulting in neutrophil functions. In contrast, neutrophilic differentiated HL-60 cells do not have Lyn-associated LacCer-enriched microdomains and lack LacCer-mediated functions. In neutrophil plasma membranes, the very long fatty acid C24:0 and C24:1 chains are the main components of LacCer, whereas plasma membrane of D-HL-60 cells mainly includes C16-LacCer species. Here, we suggest that LacCer species containing very long fatty acid chains are indispensable for the association of Lyn with LacCer-enriched microdomains and LacCer-mediated functions.

Keywords: Glycosphingolipid, Fatty acid chain, Microdomain, Src family kinase