Mutation of the pleckstrin homology domain of Bruton's tyrosine kinase in immunodeficiency impaired inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate binding capacity.
Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk), a cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinase, plays a pivotal role in B cell activation and development. Mutations in the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of the Btk gene cause human X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) and murine X-linked immunodeficiency (Xid). In this paper, we report that the PH domain of Btk functions as an inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate (IP4), inositol 1,3,4,5,6-pentakisphosphate, and inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate (IP6) binding domain (Kd of approximately 40 nM for IP4), and that all of the XLA (Phe replaced by Ser at position 25 (F25S), R28H, T33P, V64F, and V113D) and Xid mutations (R28C) found in the PH domain result in a dramatic reduction of IP4 binding activity. Furthermore, the rare alternative splicing variant, with 33 amino acids deleted in the PH domain, corresponding to exon 3 of the Btk gene, also impaired IP4 binding capacity. In contrast, a gain-of-function mutant called Btk*, which carries a E41K mutation in the PH domain, binds IP6 with two times higher affinity than the wild type. Our data suggest that B cell differentiation is closely correlated with the IP4 binding capacity of the PH domain of Btk.