Flotillins affect LPS-induced TLR4 signaling by modulating the trafficking and abundance of CD14

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces a strong pro-inflammatory reaction of macrophages upon activation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) with the assistance of CD14 protein. Considering a key role of plasma membrane rafts in CD14 and TLR4 activity and the significant impact exerted on that activity by endocytosis and intracellular trafficking of the both LPS acceptors, it seemed likely that the pro-inflammatory reaction could be modulated by flotillins. Flotillin-1 and -2 are scaffolding proteins associated with the plasma membrane and also with endo-membranes, affecting both the plasma membrane dynamics and intracellular protein trafficking. To verify the above hypothesis, a set of shRNA was used to down-regulate flotillin-2 in Raw264 cells, which were found to also become deficient in flotillin-1. The flotillin deficiency inhibited strongly the TRIF-dependent endosomal signaling of LPS-activated TLR4, and to a lower extent also the MyD88-dependent one, without affecting the cellular level of TLR4. The flotillin depletion also inhibited the pro-inflammatory activity of TLR2/TLR1 and TLR2/TLR6 but not TLR3. In agreement with those effects, the depletion of flotillins down-regulated the CD14 mRNA level and the cellular content of CD14 protein, and also inhibited constitutive CD14 endocytosis thereby facilitating its shedding. Ultimately, the cell-surface level of CD14 was markedly diminished. Concomitantly, CD14 recycling was enhanced via EEA1-positive early endosomes and golgin-97-positive trans -Golgi network, likely to compensate for the depletion of the cell-surface CD14. We propose that the paucity of surface CD14 is the reason for the down-regulated signaling of TLR4 and the other TLRs depending on CD14 for ligand binding. Graphical abstract