Regulators of G protein signaling: role in hematopoiesis, megakaryopoiesis and platelet function

Regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) are intracellular signaling regulators that bind activated G protein α subunits (Gα) and increase their intrinsic GTPase activity via their common RGS homology domain. In addition to their GTPase accelerating activity (GAP), RGS proteins also contain other domains that regulate their receptor selectivity, their interaction with other proteins such as adenylyl cyclase or their subcellular localization via interaction with scaffold proteins such as tubulin, 14-3-3 or spinophilin. There are at least 37 different RGS family members in humans and numerous physiological functions have been assigned to these proteins, which have rather a tissue-specific expression pattern. The role of some RGS proteins was shown to be important for hematopoiesis. More recent studies also focused on their expression in platelets, and for R4 RGS subfamily members RGS2, RGS16 and RGS18, it could be demonstrated that they regulate megakaryopoiesis and/or platelet function. These functional studies mostly comprised in vitro experiments and in vivo studies using small animal models. Their role in human pathology related to platelet dysfunction remains still largely unknown, except for a case report with a RGS2 gain of function mutation. In addition to an introduction on RGS signaling and different effectors with a special focus on the R4 subfamily members, we here will give an overview of the studies related to the role of RGS proteins in hematopoiesis, megakaryopoiesis and platelet function.