Vav1 transduces T cell receptor signals to the activation of phospholipase C-gamma1 via phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent and -independent pathways.

Vav1 is a signal transducing protein required for T cell receptor (TCR) signals that drive positive and negative selection in the thymus. Furthermore, Vav1-deficient thymocytes show greatly reduced TCR-induced intracellular calcium flux. Using a novel genetic system which allows the study of signaling in highly enriched populations of CD4(+)CD8(+) double positive thymocytes, we have studied the mechanism by which Vav1 regulates TCR-induced calcium flux. We show that in Vav1-deficient double positive thymocytes, phosphorylation, and activation of phospholipase C-gamma1 (PLCgamma1) is defective. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Vav1 regulates PLCgamma1 phosphorylation by at least two distinct pathways. First, in the absence of Vav1 the Tec-family kinases Itk and Tec are no longer activated, most likely as a result of a defect in phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. Second, Vav1-deficient thymocytes show defective assembly of a signaling complex containing PLCgamma1 and the adaptor molecule Src homology 2 domain-containing leukocyte phosphoprotein 76. We show that this latter function is independent of PI3K.