We have previously shown that the -opioid receptor (MOR) is capable of mediating cross-desensitization of several chemokine receptors including CCR5, but the biochemical mechanism of this process has not been fully elucidated. We have carried out a series of functional and biochemical studies and found that the mechanism of MOR-induced cross-desensitization of CCR5 involves the activation of PKC. Inhibition of PKC by its pseudosubstrate inhibitor, or its siRNA, or dominant negative mutants suppresses the cross-desensitization of CCR5. Our results further indicate that the activation of PKC is mediated through a pathway involving phosphoinositol-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1). In addition, activation of MOR elevates the phosphorylation level and kinase activity of PKC. The phosphorylation of PKC can be suppressed by a dominant negative mutant of PDK1. We observed that following MOR activation, the interaction between PKC and PDK1 is immediately increased based on the analysis of fluorescent resonance energy transfer in cells with the expression of PKC-YFP and PDK1-CFP. In addition, cells expressing PKC kinase motif mutants (Lys-281, Thr-410, Thr-560) fail to exhibit full MOR-induced desensitization of CCR5 activity. Taken together, we propose that upon DAMGO treatment, MOR activates PKC through a PDK1-dependent signaling pathway to induce CCR5 phosphorylation and desensitization. Because CCR5 is a highly proinflammatory receptor, and a critical coreceptor for HIV-1, these results may provide a novel approach for the development of specific therapeutic agents to treat patients with certain inflammatory diseases or AIDS.There are three structurally related opioid receptors, designated , , and ␦, and it is well established that activation of one or more of these receptors modulates the function of immune cells (1-5). For example, morphine suppresses chemotactic responses and chemokine expression in human and murine cells (6 -9). Similarly, Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-N-Me-PheGly-ol (DAMGO), 3 a highly selective ligand for the -opioid receptor (MOR), suppresses chemokine receptor function in vitro (7, 10 -12). Recent work from our laboratories, and others, suggest that heterologous desensitization is the primary mechanism for the inhibitory activity of opioids for chemokine receptor function. Studies reported by Grimm et al. (13,14) show that activation of and ␦ opioid receptors (MOR and DOR) induced cross-desensitization of the chemokine receptors CCR1, CCR2, CXCR1, and CXCR2, but not FPR (the high affinity receptor for fMLF), resulting in a failure of monocytes and neutrophils to manifest chemotactic responses to chemokines such as CCL2, CCL3, and CCL5 in a dose-dependent manner. Further studies have shown that activation of MOR in HEK293 cells stably expressing both MOR and CCR1, failed to migrate in response to CCL3, a CCR1 ligand (15). More recently, using both primary cells as well as stably transfected cell lines, we have shown that MOR activation induces heterologous desensitization of CCR5 but not CXCR4 (16), a finding which i...