Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1, CD31) is a 130-kDa membrane-spanning glycoprotein (GP) that belongs to the immunoglobulin (Ig) family of cell adhesion molecules and consists of a 574-residue extracellular domain composed of six Ig-like homology domains, a 19-residue transmembrane domain, and an 118-residue cytoplasmic tail [
1–
3]. PECAM-1 is expressed on the surfaces of endothelial cells and several hematopoietic cell types, including platelets, megakaryocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, natural killer cells, and naïve subsets of T and B cells [
4,
5].
PECAM-1 is a signaling molecule that plays diverse roles in vascular biology, including modulation of platelet function [
6–
9], angiogenesis [
10], vasculogenesis [
11], integrin regulation [
12,
13], T-cell and B-cell activation [
14,
15], and mediation of leukocyte migration across the endothelium [
16,
17]. This receptor also plays an important role in the inhibition of both systemic and tissue-specific inflammatory responses [
18–
20], and, more recently, has been implicated in both proatherosclerotic and atheroprotective effects, influencing the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis [
21,
22].
In platelets, we and others have shown that clustering or ligation of PECAM-1 inhibits signal transduction by the activatory collagen receptor GPVI, which hinders platelet aggregation and thrombus formation [
8,
9], although the mechanism for this inhibitory effect remains to be established. The inhibition of GPVI-stimulated platelet activation by PECAM-1 is associated with diminished protein tyrosine phosphorylation and decreased calcium mobilization [
7]. We have found, however, that early tyrosine kinase-dependent signaling, including phosphorylation of the Fc receptor (FcR)γ-chain, spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) and linker for activation of T cells (LAT), following stimulation of GPVI is largely unaffected by stimulation of PECAM-1 (data not shown). In this study, we therefore explored the next steps downstream, coordinated through the assembly of the LAT signalosome. Upon homophilic ligation and antibody-mediated clustering or following stimulation with collagen or thrombin, PECAM-1 becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated by Src-family kinases [
6,
23,
24]. PECAM-1 also becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated following activation and aggregation of platelets, which is proposed to represent a negative feedback mechanism [
6,
7,
23]. The cytoplasmic tail of human PECAM-1 has two distinct immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs) surrounding tyrosines at positions 663 and 686 [
25]. These ITIMs can serve as docking sites for signaling molecules such as non-receptor Src homology 2 (SH2) domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase-2 (SHP-2), which binds to the phosphorylated ITIMs through tandem SH2 domain-dependent interactions [
26,
27]. Several reports have strongly implicated SHP-2 in the functions of PECAM-1 in several cell systems [
15,
23,
24,
28,
29].
SHP-2 is involved in the signaling pathways of a variety of growth factor-initiated and cytokine-initiated signal transduction processes, thereby regulating a range of cellular responses [
30–
33]. Although protein tyrosine phosphatases act to counter the effects of tyrosine kinase-dependent pathways, SHP-2, in most circumstances, plays a positive regulatory role in signal transduction, as previously reported for the regulation of growth factor receptor signaling [
34]. Previous studies have demonstrated that a number of signaling proteins, such as Grb2, the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and Grb2-associated binding protein 1 (Gab1), associate with SHP-2 after cytokine and growth factor receptor activation, leading to enhanced signal transduction [
35]. Gab1 belongs to a family of scaffolding adaptor proteins, which have an N-terminal pleckstrin homology domain, multiple tyrosine-based motifs, and proline-rich sequences [
36,
37]. Upon growth factor, cytokine and antigen receptor stimulation, Gab1 provides a number of docking sites to mediate interactions with SH2 domain-containing proteins, such as SHP-2 and the p85 subunit of PI3K, mediating intracellular responses. Given the physiologic importance of the Gab1–SHP-2 association, it has been suggested that a primary role of Gab1 is to recruit SHP-2 [
38]. Furthermore, SHP-2 regulates the amount of p85 that is bound to Gab1 by dephosphorylating p85-binding sites on Gab1 [
38]. The physical association between p85 and Gab1 is important in mediating the PI3K signaling pathway induced by growth factors [
37]. In this way, SHP-2 negatively regulates the Gab1–p85 interaction, controlling the kinetics and reducing the extent of PI3K signaling following epidermal growth factor stimulation [
38].
LAT is an adaptor molecule that, upon phosphorylation by Syk, nucleates the formation of a protein complex that enables recruitment and activation of phospholipase C (PLC)γ2 following GPVI stimulation [
39,
40]. The activation of PLCγ2 in response to GPVI stimulation depends on recruitment of PI3K to phosphorylated LAT via the SH2 domains of the p85 subunit. Once recruited to the plasma membrane, PI3K phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to form phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)
P3], to which multiple pleckstrin homology domain-containing proteins, such as PLCγ2 itself, Tec family kinases required for PLCγ2 activation, protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt and 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1), which phosphorylates and activates PKB/Akt, can bind, and become activated and mediate their functions [
40,
41].
In this study, we investigated the possibility that PECAM-1 regulates the formation of the LAT–Gab1–p85 signaling complexes and the potential effect of such interactions on GPVI-mediated platelet activation in platelets. We demonstrate that PECAM-1 interferes with the formation of Gab1–p85–SHP-2 complexes upon GPVI stimulation. These results provide a molecular explanation for PECAM-1-mediated inhibition of collagen-stimulated PI3K signaling, and thereby the inhibition of platelet function.