Cripto-1 indirectly stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of erb B-4 through a novel receptor.
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Cripto-1 (CR-1) is a recently discovered protein of the epidermal growth factor family that fails to directly bind to any of the four known erb B type 1 receptor tyrosine kinases. The present study demonstrates that CR-1 indirectly induces tyrosine phosphorylation of erb B-4 but not of the epidermal growth factor-related receptors erb B-2 and erb B-3 in different mouse and human mammary epithelial cell lines. In addition, down-regulation of erb B-4 in NMuMG mouse mammary epithelial cells and in T47D human breast cancer cells, using an anti-erb B-4 blocking antibody or a hammerhead ribozyme vector targeted to erb B-4 mRNA, impairs the ability of CR-1 to fully activate mitogen-activated protein kinase. Finally, chemical cross-linking of 125I-CR-1 to mouse and human mammary epithelial cell membranes results in the labeling of two specific bands with a molecular weight of 130 and 60 kDa, suggesting that the CR-1 receptor represents a novel receptor structurally unrelated to any of the known type I receptor tyrosine kinases. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that CR-1, upon binding to an unknown receptor, can enhance the tyrosine kinase activity of erb B-4 and that a functional erb B-4 receptor is required for CR-1-induced MAPK activation. (+info)
Heregulin beta1-activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase enhances aggregation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells independent of extracellular signal-regulated kinase.
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Heregulin (HRG) is a family of polypeptide growth factors derived from alternatively spliced genes. HRG can bind to receptor tyrosine kinases erbB3 and erbB4, thereby inducing erbB3 and erbB4 heterodimerization with erbB2, leading to receptor tyrosine phosphorylation and activating downstream signal transduction. Cell-cell homophilic adhesion (cell aggregation) is important in determining the structural organization and behavior of cells in tissues. In addition, tumor cell homophilic adhesion may affect invasive and metastatic potentials of cells. We report that HRG-beta1 can enhance aggregation of MCF-7 and SKBR3 human breast cancer cells. While investigating the downstream signals involved in HRG-beta1-enhanced cell aggregation, we observed that HRG-beta1 induced tyrosine phosphorylation of erbB2 and crbB3 receptor heterodimers and increased the association of the dimerized receptors with the 85-kDa subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). HRG-beta also increased the kinase activities of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and PI3K in these cells. By using the mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK 1 (MEK1) inhibitor PD98059 and PI3K inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002, we found that blocking the MEK1-ERK pathway had no effect on HRG-pbeta1-enhanced cell aggregation; however, blocking the PI3K pathway greatly inhibited HRG-beta1-mediated cell aggregation. Our study indicated that the HRG-beta1-activated MEK1-ERK pathway has no demonstrable role in the induction of cell aggregation, whereas HRG-beta1-activated PI3K is required for enhancing breast cancer cell aggregation. Because aggregation can contribute to invasion/metastasis phenotype of cancer cells, our results have provided one mechanism by which HRG-beta1-activated signaling of erbB receptors may affect invasive/metastatic properties of MCF-7 and SKBR3 breast cancer cells. (+info)
Processing of ARIA and release from isolated nerve terminals.
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The neuromuscular junction is a specialized synapse in that every action potential in the presynaptic nerve terminal results in an action potential in the postsynaptic membrane, unlike most interneuronal synapses where a single presynaptic input makes only a small contribution to the population postsynaptic response. The postsynaptic membrane at the neuromuscular junction contains a high density of neurotransmitter (acetylcholine) receptors and a high density of voltage-gated Na+ channels. Thus, the large acetylcholine activated current occurs at the same site where the threshold for action potential generation is low. Acetylcholine receptor inducing activity (ARIA), a 42 kD protein, that stimulates synthesis of acetylcholine receptors and voltage-gated Na+ channels in cultured myotubes, probably plays the same roles at developing and mature motor endplates in vivo. ARIA is synthesized as part of a larger, transmembrane, precursor protein called proARIA. Delivery of ARIA from motor neuron cell bodies in the spinal cord to the target endplates involves several steps, including proteolytic cleavage of proARIA. ARIA is also expressed in the central nervous system and it is abundant in the molecular layer of the cerebellum. In this paper we describe our first experiments on the processing and release of ARIA from subcellular fractions containing synaptosomes from the chick cerebellum as a model system. (+info)
Transcriptional up-regulation of paxillin expression by heregulin in human breast cancer cells.
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Activation of heregulin (HRG) signaling has been implicated in the development of aggressive phenotype in breast cancer cells. The mechanisms through which HRG regulates the progression of breast cancer cells to a more invasive or motile phenotype are currently unknown. Because the process of cell migration must involve dynamic changes in the formation of new focal adhesions at the leading edge and dissolution of preexisting focal points, we explored the potential HRG regulation of paxillin, a major component of focal adhesion. Here, we report that HRG stimulation of noninvasive breast cancer MCF-7 cells resulted in the up-regulation of paxillin mRNA and protein. The observed HRG stimulation of paxillin mRNA expression was completely blocked by actinomycin D (a transcriptional inhibitor) as well as by cycloheximide (a protein synthesis inhibitor), suggesting the involvement of an inducible protein factor(s) and transcriptional regulation of paxillin mRNA by HRG. Extension of these observations to other HRG-responsive human cell lines also demonstrated that HRG has a significant capacity to up-regulate the paxillin expression. Furthermore, the levels of paxillin expression were closely linked with the coexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/HER3 receptors in breast cancer cell lines and in grade III human breast tumors. This study is the first demonstration of regulation of paxillin expression by a polypeptide growth factor, and it suggests a potential role for paxillin in the HER2 pathway in breast cancer. (+info)
Stimulation of beta1-integrin function by epidermal growth factor and heregulin-beta has distinct requirements for erbB2 but a similar dependence on phosphoinositide 3-OH kinase.
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Integrins and growth factor receptors are important participants in cellular adhesion and migration. The EGF receptor (EGFR) family of tyrosine kinases and the beta1-integrin adhesion receptors are of particular interest, given the implication for their involvement in the initiation and progression of tumorigenesis. We used adhesion and chemotaxis assays to further elucidate the relationship between these two families of transmembrane signaling molecules. Specifically, we examined integrin-mediated adhesive and migratory characteristics of the metastatic breast carcinoma cell line MDA-MB-435 in response to stimulation with growth factors that bind to and activate the EGFR or erbB3 in these cells. Although ligand engagement of the EGFR stimulated modest beta1-dependent increases in cell adhesion and motility, heregulin-beta (HRGbeta) binding to the erbB3 receptor initiated rapid and potent induction of breast carcinoma cell adhesion and migration and required dimerization of erbB3 with erbB2. Pharmacologic inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-OH kinase (PI 3-K) or transient expression of dominant negative forms of PI 3-K inhibited both EGF- and HRGbeta-mediated adhesion and potently blocked HRGbeta- and EGF-induced cell motility. Our results illustrate the critical role of PI 3-K activity in signaling pathways initiated by the EGFR or erbB3 to up-regulate beta1-integrin function. (+info)
Neuregulin stimulates DNA synthesis in embryonic chick heart cells.
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Neuregulins are a family of growth factors that have been shown to promote the growth or differentiation of various cell types. Recently, targeted mutations of the genes for neuregulins or their putative receptors by homologous recombination resulted in embryonic lethality characterized by cardiac malformation. Here we investigate a role for neuregulin in the growth of cultured chick heart cells. Neuregulin induced the tyrosine phosphorylation of a 185-kDa protein in cultured heart cells, and it also stimulated an increase in [(3)H]thymidine incorporation and BrDU labeling in the cell cultures. Immunocytochemistry revealed that the increased DNA synthesis was primarily in mesenchymal cells and not detected in myocytes or endocardial cells. These data suggest that neuregulin may function as a paracrine signal in mesenchymal-endothelial interactions during cardiac development. (+info)
gamma-heregulin is the product of a chromosomal translocation fusing the DOC4 and HGL/NRG1 genes in the MDA-MB-175 breast cancer cell line.
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gamma-heregulin is a recently described novel isoform of the heregulin/neuregulin class of EGF-like ligands that bind to and activate receptors of the ErbB family. Deregulated signaling through the heregulin-ErbB pathway is thought to be implicated in the development of a subset of human breast cancers. gamma-heregulin has been found to be expressed in the culture supernatant of MDA-MB-175, a breast carcinoma cell line. gamma-heregulin is characterized by the presence of a large N-terminal peptide extension that is not found in other heregulin isoforms. Here we report that this unique N-terminal extension of gamma-heregulin is identical to the N-terminus of DOC4, a product of a recently identified CHOP-dependent stress-induced gene. Human DOC4 and the heregulin-encoding genes map to different chromosomes and the MDA-MB-175 cell line contains a chromosomal translocation that leads to the fusion of DOC4 and HGL, on chromosomes 11 and 8, respectively. Thus, gamma-heregulin is a product of a mutant fusion gene and not a bona fide normal isoform. We speculate that the mutation may be selected for by virtue of its ability to activate ErbB signaling through the production of an autocrine ligand. (+info)
Regulation of neuregulin-mediated acetylcholine receptor synthesis by protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2.
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Synapse-specific expression of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) is believed to be mediated by neuregulin, an epidermal growth factor-like trophic factor released by somatic motoneurons at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Neuregulin stimulates ErbB2, ErbB3, and ErbB4, members of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases. SHP2 is a cytoplasmic protein tyrosine phosphatase containing two Src homology 2 domains near its N terminus, and has been shown to be a positive mediator of mitogenic responses to various growth factors. We found that SHP2 interacted with ErbB2 and ErbB3 after neuregulin stimulation of muscle cells. Expression of SHP2 in C2C12 mouse muscle cells attenuated the neuregulin-induced expression of an AChR epsilon-promoter reporter gene, whereas a catalytically inactive SHP2 mutant or a mutant lacking the N-terminal Src homology 2 (SH2) domain enhanced reporter expression, suggesting that SHP2 negatively regulates the neuregulin signaling pathway. In fibroblast cells that express a mutant SHP2 with a targeted deletion of the N-terminal SH2 domain, neuregulin-mediated activation of the Ras/Raf/extracellular signal-regulated kinase cascade was enhanced. Furthermore, we found that SHP2 immunoreactivity colocalized with the staining of alpha-bungarotoxin, a marker of the NMJ. These results demonstrate a negative role of SHP2 in the neuregulin signal that leads to AChR gene expression at the NMJ. (+info)