Multiple G-protein-coupling specificity of β-adrenoceptor in macrophages

Adrenergic signalling of the immune system is one of the important modulator pathways of the inflammatory immune response realized via G protein-mediated pathways. The resulted signal depends on the type of the receptor-coupled G-protein (GPCR) that, according to the classical paradigm in the case of beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR), is Gs-type. Recently, alternate and/or multiple G protein coupling specificity of GPCRs have been demonstrated including a switch from Gs to Gi binding. The possibility of a Gs/Gi switch and its role in the immune response of macrophages has not been investigated yet. In this study, we demonstrate that beta-adrenergic stimulation itself is able to induce a transient mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation in murine peritoneal macrophages in a pertussis toxin-sensitive manner, suggesting that the Gs/Gi switch also occurs in the immune system. Although this process is very rapid, it can influence different signalling pathways and can reprogramme effector functions suggesting that sympathetic modulation of the defence mechanism of the innate immune system has an additional, Gs/Gi switch-dependent component.