Chemokines as phosphatidylserine-bound ‘find-me’ signals in apoptotic cell clearance

Chemokines are positively charged cytokines that attract leukocytes by binding to anionic glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) on endothelial cells for efficient presentation to leukocyte G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The atypical chemokine CXCL16 has been reported to also bind the anionic phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS), but the biological relevance of this interaction remains poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that PS binding is in fact a widely shared property of chemokine superfamily members that, like GAG binding, induces chemokine oligomerization. PS is an essential phospholipid of the inner leaflet of the healthy cell plasma membrane but it is exposed in apoptotic cells to act as an ‘eat-me’ signal that promotes engulfment of dying cells by phagocytes. We found that chemokines can bind PS in pure form as well as in the context of liposomes and on the surface of apoptotic cells and extracellular vesicles released by apoptotic cells, which are known to act as ‘find-me’ signals that chemoattract phagocytes during apoptotic cell clearance. Importantly, we show that GAGs are severely depleted from the surface of apoptotic cells and that extracellular vesicles extracted from apoptotic mouse thymus bind endogenous thymic chemokines and activate cognate chemokine receptors. Together these results indicate that chemokines tethered to surface-exposed PS may be responsible for the chemotactic and find-me signal activity previously attributed to extracellular vesicles, and that PS may substitute for GAGs as the anionic scaffold that regulates chemokine oligomerization and presentation to GPCRs on the GAG-deficient membranes of apoptotic cells and extracellular vesicles. Here, we present a new mechanism by which extracellular vesicles, currently recognized as essential agents for intercellular communication in homeostasis and disease, can transport signaling cytokines.