Tyrosine phosphorylation and CD95: a FAScinating switch

Apoptosis or programmed cell-death is an important process involved in tissue homeostasis, development and a variety of immune responses.(1) The apoptotic program can be activated via transmembrane receptors stimulated by their cognate ligands. The presence of a well-conserved region of 80 amino acids in their intracellular tail, the Death-Domain (DD), has conferred those receptors the general name of "death receptors". Death receptors are a subfamily of the TNF receptor superfamily, which includes the TNF receptor-I (TNFR1), TRAMP, DR3/APO-3, TRAIL-receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1/DR4), TRAIL-receptor 2 (TRAIL-R1/DR5), DR6 and CD95 (Fas/Apo-1). The pro-apoptotic properties of the CD95 system have been extensively studied during the past decades. Nevertheless, CD95 has now emerged as an important activator of other major signaling pathways leading to a variety of phenotypes. In the last years, stimulation of CD95 has been described to activate the MAPK pathways p38, JNK and ERK. (2-6) CD95 has also been shown to activate the transcription factor NFkB. (67-9) However, the molecular mechanisms leading to activation of such pathways are not fully understood and their contribution to the final phenotype is still unclear. CD95 has been shown to be particularly involved in tumor cell invasion, (6) neurite sprouting and outgrowth,(5,10) as well as cell proliferation(11,12)--functions that lay to rest the general assumption of CD95 as a death receptor. In our group we have recently described a novel molecular link between CD95 and the phosphatydilinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway in Glioblastoma multiforme. In the present review we will discuss the past and present knowledge of the CD95/CD95L system and its role in PI3K signaling.