Peptides derived from central turn motifs within integrin αIIb and αV cytoplasmic tails inhibit integrin activation

We previously found that peptides derived from the full length of integrin αIIb and αV cytoplasmic tails inhibited their parent integrin activation, respectively. Here we showed that the cell-permeable peptides corresponding to the conserved central turn motif within αIIb and αV cytoplasmic tails, myr-KRNRPPLEED (αIIb peptide) and myr-KRVRPPQEEQ (αV peptide), similarly inhibited both αIIb and αV integrin activation. Pre-treatment with αIIb or αV peptides inhibited Mn(2+)-activated αIIbβ3 binding to soluble fibrinogen as well as the binding of αIIbβ3-expressing Chinese Hamster Ovary cells to immobilized fibrinogen. Our turn peptides also inhibited adhesion of two breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-435 and MCF7) to αV ligand vitronectin. These results suggest that αIIb and αV peptides share a same mechanism in regulating integrin function. Using αIIb peptide as a model, we found that replacement of RPP with AAA significantly attenuated the inhibitory activity of αIIb peptide. Furthermore, we found that αIIb peptide specifically bound to β-tubulin in cells. Our work suggests that the central motif of α tails is an anchoring point for cytoskeletons during integrin activation and integrin-mediated cell adhesion, and its function depends on the turn structure at RPP. However, post-treatment of peptides derived from the full-length tail or from the turn motif did not reverse αIIb and αV integrin activation.