Chemotaxis and calcium responses of phagocytes to formyl peptide receptor ligands is differentially regulated by cyclic ADP ribose

Cyclic ADP ribose (cADPR) is a calcium-mobilizing metabolite that regulates intracellular calcium release and extracellular calcium influx. Although the role of cADPR in modulating calcium mobilization has been extensively examined, its potential role in regulating immunologic responses is less well understood. We previously reported that cADPR, produced by the ADP-ribosyl cyclase, CD38, controls calcium influx and chemotaxis of murine neutrophils responding to fMLF, a peptide agonist for two chemoattractant receptor subtypes, formyl peptide receptor and formyl peptide receptor-like 1. In this study, we examine whether cADPR is required for chemotaxis of human monocytes and neutrophils to a diverse array of chemoattractants. We found that a cADPR antagonist and a CD38 substrate analogue inhibited the chemotaxis of human phagocytic cells to a number of formyl peptide receptor-like 1-specific ligands but had no effect on the chemotactic response of these cells to ligands selective for formyl peptide receptor. In addition, we show that the cADPR antagonist blocks the chemotaxis of human monocytes to CXCR4, CCR1, and CCR5 ligands. In all cases, we found that cADPR modulates intracellular free calcium levels in cells activated by chemokines that induce extracellular calcium influx in the apparent absence of significant intracellular calcium release. Thus, cADPR regulates calcium signaling of a discrete subset of chemoattractant receptors expressed by human leukocytes. Since many of the chemoattractant receptors regulated by cADPR bind to ligands that are associated with clinical pathology, cADPR and CD38 represent novel drug targets with potential application in chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease.