Signalling by the Platelet C-Type Lectin Receptor CLEC-2 Is Mediated by a Novel Mechanism Involving Syk and a Single YxxL Motif.

We have recently identified the C-type lectin-like receptor CLEC-2 as a novel receptor for the snake toxin rhodocytin on platelets. CLEC-2 is a 32 kDa type II transmembrane protein with a single cytoplasmic tyrosine residue in a YxxL consensus sequence. It is the first C-type lectin receptor that has been shown to activate platelets. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of signalling by CLEC-2 using model cell lines and to establish the role of the YxxL motif in this process.

We have expressed CLEC-2 in wild type DT40 B cells and Jurkat T cells and in mutant derivatives of these cell lines that lack key signalling proteins. We have assayed PLCγ activation using an NFAT-luciferase reporter assay. Site directed mutagenesis of the cytoplasmic tyrosine residue of CLEC-2 has been used to assess its role in CLEC-2 signalling. We have compared the signalling pathway of CLEC-2 with that of the ITAM-coupled collagen receptor GPVI by expressing GPVI in the mutant cell lines and monitoring responses to the GPVI specific agonist convulxin as above.

Cells transfected with CLEC-2 respond to rhodocytin. Mutation of the CLEC-2 YxxL motif to FxxL abrogates CLEC-2 signalling. CLEC-2 signalling is abrogated in cells deficient in Src or Syk family kinases or PLCγ . CLEC-2 signalling is partially dependent on Tec family kinases and the adaptors LAT and SLP-76/BLNK. Interestingly, GPVI signalling and CLEC-2 signalling show a differential requirement for the SLP-76 family adaptor proteins SLP-76 or Blnk; GPVI signalling is entirely dependent on SLP-76/Blnk, whereas CLEC-2 signalling is only partially dependent on these proteins.

These observations are consistent with a model whereby CLEC-2 recruits Syk via its YxxL motif and initiates a signalling cascade similar to the major platelet glycoproteins GPVI and integrin α IIbβ 3. CLEC-2 is the first platelet receptor shown to regulate Syk through a single YxxL motif. Importantly, despite the similarity in the signalling proteins involved in signalling by the ITAM receptor, the integrin receptor and the C-type lectin receptor, the signalling pathways are organised and initiated differently.