Signal-transducing adaptor protein-2 modulates T-cell functions

Immune responses are orchestrated by controlling the initiation, magnitude, and duration of various signaling pathways. Adaptor proteins act as positive or negative regulators by targeting critical molecules of signaling cascades. Signal-transducing adaptor protein-2 (STAP-2) contains typical features of adaptor proteins, like a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain in the N-terminal region and a Src homology 2 (SH2) domain in the central region. STAP-2 binds to a variety of signaling or transcriptional molecules to control multiple steps of inflammatory/immune responses. STAP-2 enhances T-cell receptor (TCR)-mediated signaling via the association with TCR-proximal CD3ζ immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) and lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (Lck). STAP-2 decreases adherence of T-cells to fibronectin (FN) through an association with focal adhesion kinase (Fak) and Casitas B-lineage Lymphoma (c-Cbl), and increases chemotaxis of T-cells toward stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) through interactions with Vav1 and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1). STAP-2 positively regulates activation-induced cell deathrough the association with Fas and caspase-8. This review describes the current knowledge of the roles of STAP-2 in T-cell-dependent immune responses and the possible clinical utility of STAP-2-targeting therapies.