Summary The essential role of the sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor S1P 1 in regulating lymphocyte trafficking was demonstrated with the S1P 1 -selective nanomolar agonist, SEW2871. Despite its lack of charged headgroup, the tetraaromatic compound SEW2871 binds and activates S1P 1 through a combination of hydrophobic and ion-dipole interactions. Both S1P and SEW2871 activated ERK, Akt, and Rac signaling pathways and induced S1P 1 internalization and recycling, unlike FTY720-phosphate, which induces receptor degradation. Agonism with receptor recycling is sufficient for alteration of lymphocyte trafficking by S1P and SEW2871. S1P 1 modeling and mutagenesis studies revealed that residues binding the S1P headgroup are required for kinase activation by both S1P and SEW2871. Therefore, SEW2871 recapitulates the action of S1P in all the signaling pathways examined and overlaps in interactions with key headgroup binding receptor residues, presumably replacing salt-bridge interactions with ion-dipole interactions.
