The critical cytoplasmic regions of the alphaL/beta2 integrin in Rap1-induced adhesion and migration

Rap1 is a potent inside-out signal that increases LFA-1 adhesive activity. In this study, we have defined the cytoplasmic region of the alphaL and beta2 integrin that are required for Rap1-stimulated adhesion and subsequent migration on ICAM-1. Human LFA-1 bearing truncated and point-mutated alphaL and beta2 cytoplasmic regions were reconstituted in mouse IL-3-dependent proB cells, BAF/3. Truncation of the alphaL, but not beta2 subunit cytoplasmic region, abolished Rap1V12-dependent adhesion to ICAM-1. The alanine substitution of two lysine residues (K1097/K1099) in the alphaL subunit was found to be critical in adhesion induced by Rap1V12, but not PMA. This mutation suppressed Rap1V12-induced LFA-1 conformation changes and ligand-binding affinity. The K1097/K1099 mutation also impaired binding to ICAM-1 induced by TCR cross-linking or SDF-1. In contrast, the alanine substitution for tyrosine in the beta2 subunit endocytosis motif inhibited internalization of LFA-1, and severely impaired detachment at the cell rear, which resulted in long-elongated cell shapes. This result demonstrates that internalization of LFA-1 is a critical step in the deadhesion process. Our study revealed novel requirements of amino acid residues of the LFA-1 cytoplasmic region in the response to the inside-out signaling and the subsequent deadhesion process.