APO2L/TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) induces death of tumor cells through two agonist receptors, TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2. We demonstrate here that N-linked glycosylation (N-glyc) plays ...also an important regulatory role for TRAIL-R1-mediated and mouse TRAIL receptor (mTRAIL-R)-mediated apoptosis, but not for TRAIL-R2, which is devoid of N-glycans. Cells expressing N-glyc-defective mutants of TRAIL-R1 and mouse TRAIL-R were less sensitive to TRAIL than their wild-type counterparts. Defective apoptotic signaling by N-glyc-deficient TRAIL receptors was associated with lower TRAIL receptor aggregation and reduced DISC formation, but not with reduced TRAIL-binding affinity. Our results also indicate that TRAIL receptor N-glyc impacts immune evasion strategies. The cytomegalovirus (CMV) UL141 protein, which restricts cell-surface expression of human TRAIL death receptors, binds with significant higher affinity TRAIL-R1 lacking N-glyc, suggesting that this sugar modification may have evolved as a counterstrategy to prevent receptor inhibition by UL141. Altogether our findings demonstrate that N-glyc of TRAIL-R1 promotes TRAIL signaling and restricts virus-mediated inhibition.
Issue Information
The FEBS journal,
08/2021, Letnik:
288, Številka:
15
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Cover IllustrationOn the cover, cancer cells are depicted going into the light representing apoptosis, while a cell smugly resists the call to die and instead plans to hijack apoptosis to light an ...‘oncogenic fire’. Read about how apoptosis can fuel the oncogenic fire in the review by Gabriel Ichim and co‐authors (pages 4445–4463). Illustration by Dina Brusnichkina (dinaburns.artstation.com).