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Receptors in Macrophages
By



From the * Division of Cell Biology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8,
Canada; Phagocytosis of bacteria by macrophages and neutrophils is an essential component of host defense against infection. The mechanism whereby the interaction of opsonized particles with
Fc
Department of Surgery, The Toronto Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2C4, Canada; and § Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19104-4283
receptors triggers the engulfment of opsonized particles remains incompletely understood,
although activation of tyrosine kinases has been recognized as an early step. Recent studies in
other systems have demonstrated that tyrosine kinases can in turn signal the activation of small GTPases of the ras superfamily. We therefore investigated the possible role of Rho in Fc receptor-mediated phagocytosis. To this end we microinjected J774 macrophages with C3 exotoxin
from Clostridium botulinum, which ADP-ribosylates and inactivates Rho. C3 exotoxin induced
the retraction of filopodia, the disappearance of focal complexes, and a global decrease in the
F-actin content of J774 cells. In addition, these cells exhibited increased spreading and the formation of vacuolar structures. Importantly, inactivation of Rho resulted in the complete abrogation of phagocytosis. Inhibition of Fc
receptor-mediated phagocytosis by C3 exotoxin was
confirmed in COS cells, which become phagocytic upon transfection of the Fc
RIIA receptor. Rho was found to be essential for the accumulation of phosphotyrosine and of F-actin
around phagocytic cups and for Fc
receptor-mediated Ca2+ signaling. The clustering of receptors in response to opsonin, an essential step in Fc
-induced signaling, was the earliest event shown to be inhibited by C3 exotoxin. The effect of the toxin was specific, since clustering
and internalization of transferrin receptors were unaffected by microinjection of C3. These data identify a role for small GTPases in Fc
receptor-mediated phagocytosis by leukocytes.
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