The interferon-inducible double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase self-associates in vitro and in vivo.

The interferon-inducible double-stranded (ds) RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) exhibits antiviral, anticellular, and antitumor activities. The mechanisms of its enzymatic activation by autophosphorylation and of the observed transdominant inhibitory phenotype of enzymatically inactive mutants have invoked PKR dimerization. Here we present direct evidence in support of PKR-PKR interaction. We show that radiolabeled PKR can specifically interact with matrix-bound unlabeled PKR in the absence of dsRNA. The self-association activity resides, in part, in the N-terminal region of 170 residues, which also constitutes the dsRNA-binding domain (DRBD). DRBD can bind to matrix-bound PKR or to matrix-bound DRBD. Dimerization of DRBD was directly demonstrated by chemical crosslinking. Affinity chromatography and electrophoretic mobility supershift assays demonstrated that mutants that fail to bind dsRNA can still exhibit protein-protein interaction. The PKR-PKR interaction could also be observed in a two-hybrid transcriptional activation assay in mammalian cells and consequently is likely to be an important feature of PKR activity in vivo.

Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases by vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor in capillary endothelial cells is inhibited by the antiangiogenic factor 16-kDa N-terminal fragment of prolactin.

A number of factors both stimulating and inhibiting angiogenesis have been described. In the current work, we demonstrate that the angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) as has been previously shown for basic fibroblast growth factor. The antiagiogenic factor 16-kDa N-terminal fragment of human prolactin inhibits activation of MAPK distal to autophosphorylation of the putative VEGF receptor, Flk-1, and phospholipase C-gamma. These data show that activation and inhibition of MAPK may play a central role in the control of angiogenesis.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a conserved nuclear serine(threonine) protein kinase.

Human, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans cDNA clones encoding homologues of a serine(threonine) protein kinase (EC 2.7.1.37) (designated Ndr protein kinase) have been isolated and sequenced. The human and Drosophila cDNAs predict polypeptides of 54 kDa and 52 kDa, respectively, which share approximately 80% amino acid similarity. Northern analysis of human tissues revealed a ubiquitously expressed 3.9-kb transcript. Recombinant GST-Ndr underwent intramolecular autophosphorylation on serine and threonine residues in vitro but failed to transphosphorylate several standard protein kinase substrates. Transfection of the human cDNA into COS-1 cells resulted in the appearance of an intense nuclear staining in cells analyzed by indirect immunofluorescence; deletion mutagenesis identified a short basic peptide, KRKAETWKRNRR, responsible for the nuclear accumulation of Ndr. Thus, Ndr is a conserved and widely expressed nuclear protein kinase. The closest known relative of this previously uncharacterized kinase is Dbf2, a budding yeast protein kinase required for the completion of nuclear division.

Ganglioside GM1 binds to the Trk protein and regulates receptor function.

Several lines of evidence have suggested that ganglioside GM1 stimulates neuronal sprouting and enhances the action of nerve growth factor (NGF), but its precise mechanism is yet to be elucidated. We report here that GM1 directly and tightly associates with Trk, the high-affinity tyrosine kinase-type receptor for NGF, and strongly enhances neurite outgrowth and neurofilament expression in rat PC12 cells elicited by a low dose of NGF that alone is insufficient to induce neuronal differentiation. The potentiation of NGF activity by GM1 appears to involve tyrosine-autophosphorylation of Trk, which contains intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity that has been localized to the cytoplasmic domain. In the presence of GM1 in culture medium, there is a > 3-fold increase in NGF-induced autophosphorylation of Trk as compared with NGF alone. We also found that GM1 could directly enhance NGF-activated autophosphorylation of immunoprecipitated Trk in vitro. Monosialoganglioside GM1, but not polysialogangliosides, is tightly associated with immunoprecipitated Trk. Furthermore, such tight association of GM1 with Trk appears to be specific, since a similar association was not observed with other growth factor receptors, such as low-affinity NGF receptor (p75NGR) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Thus, these results strongly suggest that GM1 functions as a specific endogenous activator of NGF receptor function, and these enhanced effects appear to be due, at least in part, to tight association of GM1 with Trk.

Insulin-like growth factor I receptors of fetal brain are enriched in nerve growth cones and contain a beta-subunit variant.

Nerve growth cones isolated from fetal rat brain are highly enriched in a 97-kDa glycoprotein, termed beta gc, that comigrates with the beta subunit of the IGF-I receptor upon two-dimensional PAGE and is disulfide-linked to this receptor's alpha subunit. Antibodies prepared to a conserved domain shared by the insulin and IGF-I receptor beta subunits (AbP2) or to beta gc were used to study receptor distribution further. Subcellular fractionation of the fetal brain segregated most AbP2 immunoreactivity away from growth cones, whereas most beta gc immunoreactivity copurified with growth cones. Experiments involving ligand-activated receptor autophosphorylation confirmed the concentration of IGF-I but not of insulin receptors in growth cone fractions. These results indicate the enrichment of IGF-I receptors in (presumably axonal) growth cones of the differentiating neuron. Furthermore, the segregation of beta gc from AbP2 immunoreactivity suggests that such neurons express an immunochemically distinct variant of the IGF-I receptor beta subunit at the growth cone.

Activation of the Lck tyrosine protein kinase by hydrogen peroxide requires the phosphorylation of Tyr-394.

Exposure of cells to H2O2 mimics many of the effects of treatment of cells with extracellular ligands. Among these is the stimulation of tyrosine phosphorylation. In this study, we show that exposure of cells to H2O2 increases the catalytic activity of the lymphocyte-specific tyrosine protein kinase p56lck (Lck) and induces tyrosine phosphorylation of Lck at Tyr-394, the autophosphorylation site. Using mutant forms of Lck, we found that Tyr-394 is required for H2O2-induced activation of Lck, suggesting that phosphorylation of this site may activate Lck. In addition, H2O2 treatment induced phosphorylation at Tyr-394 in a catalytically inactive mutant of Lck in cells that do not express endogenous Lck. This demonstrates that a kinase other than Lck itself is capable of phosphorylating Lck at the so-called autophosphorylation site and raises the possibility that this as yet unidentified tyrosine protein kinase functions as an activator of Lck. Such an activating enzyme could play an important role in signal transduction in T cells.

Disease specificity of kinase domains: the src-encoded catalytic domain converts erbB into a sarcoma oncogene.

src and erbB are two tyrosine kinase-encoding oncogenes carried by retroviruses, which have distinct disease specificities. The former induces predominantly sarcomas, and the latter, leukemias. Src and ErbB have similar catalytic domains but have very different regulatory domains. A wealth of information exists concerning how different regulatory domains [Src homology 2 (SH2) and SH3 domains and autophosphorylation sites] control substrate and disease specificities. Whether the catalytic domain helps determine these specificities remains to be explored. Here we show that the Src catalytic domain is enzymatically active when substituted into the ErbB backbone and interacts with the ErbB regulatory domain. This ErbB/Src chimera displays autophosphorylation and substrate phosphorylation patterns different from those of both Src and ErbB. Neither SH2 and SH3 nor autophosphorylation sites are required for the Src catalytic domain to exert its fibroblast transforming ability. Most significantly, the catalytic domain can convert erbB from a leukemogenic oncogene into a sarcomagenic oncogene, suggesting that the leukemogenic determinants in part reside within the ErbB catalytic domain.

Selective inhibition of the platelet-derived growth factor signal transduction pathway by a protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the 2-phenylaminopyrimidine class.

The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor is a member of the transmembrane growth factor receptor protein family with intrinsic protein-tyrosine kinase activity. We describe a potent protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (CGP 53716) that shows selectivity for the PDGF receptor in vitro and in the cell. The compound shows selectivity for inhibition of PDGF-mediated events such as PDGF receptor autophosphorylation, cellular tyrosine phosphorylation, and c-fos mRNA induction in response to PDGF stimulation of intact cells. In contrast, ligand-induced autophosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, insulin receptor, and the insulin-like growth factor I receptor, as well as c-fos mRNA expression induced by EGF, fibroblast growth factor, and phorbol ester, was insensitive to inhibition by CGP 53716. In antiproliferative assays, the compound was approximately 30-fold more potent in inhibiting PDGF-mediated growth of v-sis-transformed BALB/c 3T3 cells relative to inhibition of EGF-dependent BALB/Mk cells, interleukin-3-dependent FDC-P1 cells, and the T24 bladder carcinoma line. When tested in vivo using highly tumorigenic v-sis- and human c-sis-transformed BALB/c 3T3 cells, CGP 53716 showed antitumor activity at well-tolerated doses. In contrast, CGP 53716 did not show antitumor activity against xenografts of the A431 tumor, which overexpresses the EGF receptor. These findings suggest that CGP 53716 may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of diseases involving abnormal cellular proliferation induced by PDGF receptor activation.

Repelling class discrimination: ephrin-A5 binds to and activates EphB2 receptor signaling

The interactions between Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their ephrin ligands regulate cell migration and axon pathfinding. The EphA receptors are generally thought to become activated by ephrin-A ligands, whereas the EphB receptors interact with ephrin-B ligands. Here we show that two of the most widely studied of these molecules, EphB2 and ephrin-A5, which have never been described to interact with each other, do in fact bind one another with high affinity. Exposure of EphB2-expressing cells to ephrin-A5 leads to receptor clustering, autophosphorylation and initiation of downstream signaling. Ephrin-A5 induces EphB2-mediated growth cone collapse and neurite retraction in a model system. We further show, using X-ray crystallography, that the ephrin-A5-EphB2 complex is a heterodimer and is architecturally distinct from the tetrameric EphB2-ephrin-B2 structure. The structural data reveal the molecular basis for EphB2-ephrin-A5 signaling and provide a framework for understanding the complexities of functional interactions and crosstalk between A- and B-subclass Eph receptors and ephrins.

Inhibition of transforming growth factor-beta 1 signaling attenuates ataxia telanglectasia mutated activity in response to genotoxic stress

Ionizing radiation causes DNA damage that elicits a cellular program of damage control coordinated by the kinase activity of ataxia telangiectasia mutated protein (ATM). Transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta)-1, which is activated by radiation, is a potent and pleiotropic mediator of physiologic and pathologic processes. Here we show that TGF beta inhibition impedes the canonical cellular DNA damage stress response. Irradiated Tgf beta 1 nail murine epithelial cells or human epithelial cells treated with a small-molecule inhibitor of TGF beta type I receptor kinase exhibit decreased phosphorylation of Chk2, Rad17, and p53; reduced gamma H2AX radiation-induced foci; and increased radiosensitivity compared with TGF beta competent cells. We determined that loss of TGF beta signaling in epithelial cells truncated ATM autophosphorylation and significantly reduced its kinase activity, without affecting protein abundance. Addition of TGF beta restored functional ATM and downstream DNA damage responses. These data reveal a heretofore undetected critical link between the microenvironment and ATM, which directs epithelial cell stress responses, cell fate, and tissue integrity. Thus, Tgf beta 1, in addition to its role in homoeostatic growth control, plays a complex role in regulating responses to genotoxic stress, the failure of which would contribute to the development of cancer; conversely, inhibiting TGF beta may be used to advantage in cancer therapy.

A nonantisense sequence-selective effect of a phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor in A431 cells

The overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) has been implicated as a causative factor and a poor prognostic marker in a number of carcinomas. Therefore, strategies that down-regulate EGFr expression may be therapeutically useful. We designed antisense ODNs complementary to the initiation codon region of the EGFr mRNA and evaluated their efficacy in several tumor-derived cells, including the A431 cell line that express amplified levels of EGFr. A 15-mer phosphorothioate (PS) antisense ODN (erbB1AS15) induced a concentration-dependent reduction in proliferation that was accompanied by a change in the morphology of A431 cells into more tightly clustered and discrete colonies. A 15-mer sense (PS) control oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) and a phosphodiester (PO) version of erbB1AS15 had little or no effect on cell number of morphology, and erbB1AS15 (PS) did not induce these effects in control cell lines expressing lower levels of EGFr. The effects of erbB1AS15 (PS) on A431 cells were not mediated by a true antisense mechanism in that there was no reduction in the level of EGFr mRNA or protein over a 24-hr period, as determined by Northern and Western blotting, respectively. However, autophosphorylation of the receptor was significantly reduced by erbB1AS15 (PS) and not by control ODNs. The results of further studies suggested that this effect was mediated by a direct, dose-dependent inhibition of the EGFr tyrosine kinase enzyme and was not due to impairment of either ligand-binding or receptor dimerization. These data suggest that erbB1AS15 (PS) can inhibit proliferation and alter the morphology of A431 cells by a sequence-selective, but nonantisense mechanism affecting receptor tyrosine kinase activity.

Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity mechanisms in regular spiking and intrinsic bursting cells of cortical layer 5

Layer 5 contains the major projection neurons of the neocortex and is composed of two major cell types: regular spiking (RS) cells, which have cortico-cortical projections, and intrinsic bursting cells (IB), which have subcortical projections. Little is known about the plasticity processes and specifically the molecular mechanisms by which these two cell classes develop and maintain their unique integrative properties. In this study, we find that RS and IB cells show fundementally different experience-dependent plasticity processes and integrate Hebbian and homeostatic components of plasticity differently. Both RS and IB cells showed TNFα-dependent homeostatic plasticity in response to sensory deprivation, but IB cells were capable of a much faster synaptic depression and homeostatic rebound than RS cells. Only IB cells showed input-specific potentiation that depended on CaMKII autophosphorylation. Our findings demonstrate that plasticity mechanisms are not uniform within the neocortex, even within a cortical layer, but are specialized within subcircuits.

Mechanism of attenuation of muscle protein degradation induced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and angiotensin II by beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate

Both tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)/interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and angiotensin II (ANG II) induced an increase in total protein degradation in murine myotubes, which was completely attenuated by treatment with beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB; 50 microM). There was an increase in formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within 30 min, as well as an increase in the activity of both caspase-3 and -8, and both effects were attenuated by HMB. Moreover, inhibitors of caspase-3 and -8 completely attenuated both ROS formation and total protein degradation induced by TNF-alpha/IFN-gamma and ANG II. There was an increased autophosphorylation of double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), which was attenuated by the specific caspase-3 and -8 inhibitors. Neither ROS formation or protein degradation occurred in myotubes expressing a catalytically inactive PKR variant, PKRDelta6, in response to TNF-alpha/IFN-gamma, compared with myotubes expressing wild-type PKR, although there was still activation of caspase-3 and -8. HMB also attenuated activation of PKR, suggesting that it was important in protein degradation. Formation of ROS was attenuated by rotenone, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, nitro-l-arginine methyl ester, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, and SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), which also attenuated total protein degradation. Activation of p38 MAPK by PKR provides the link to ROS formation. These results suggest that TNF-alpha/IFN-gamma and ANG II induce muscle protein degradation by a common signaling pathway, which is attenuated by HMB, and that this involves the initial activation of caspase-3 and -8, followed by autophosphorylation and activation of PKR, which then leads to increased ROS formation via activation of p38 MAPK. Increased ROS formation is known to induce protein degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

Increased expression of phosphorylated forms of RNA-dependent protein kinase and eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha may signal skeletal muscle atrophy in weight-losing cancer patients

Previous studies suggest that the activation (autophosphorylation) of dsRNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) can stimulate protein degradation, and depress protein synthesis in skeletal muscle through phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2) on the alpha-subunit. To understand whether these mediators are important in muscle wasting in cancer patients, levels of the phospho forms of PKR and eIF2alpha have been determined in rectus abdominus muscle of weight losing patients with oesophago-gastric cancer, in comparison with healthy controls. Levels of both phospho PKR and phospho eIF2alpha were significantly enhanced in muscle of cancer patients with weight loss irrespective of the amount and there was a linear relationship between phosphorylation of PKR and phosphorylation of eIF2alpha (correlation coefficient 0.76, P=0.005). This suggests that phosphorylation of PKR led to phosphorylation of eIF2alpha. Myosin levels decreased as the weight loss increased, and there was a linear relationship between myosin expression and the extent of phosphorylation of eIF2alpha (correlation coefficient 0.77, P=0.004). These results suggest that phosphorylation of PKR may be an important initiator of muscle wasting in cancer patients.