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Mol. Cell. Biol., Aug 1997, 4597-4610, Vol 17, No. 8
DP Bonita, S Miyake, ML Lupher Jr, WY Langdon and H Band
Recent studies have demonstrated that Cbl, the 120-kDa protein product of
the c-cbl proto-oncogene, serves as a substrate of a number of
receptor-coupled tyrosine kinases and forms complexes with SH3 and SH2
domain-containing proteins, pointing to its role in signal transduction.
Based on genetic evidence that the Caenorhabditis elegans Cbl homolog,
SLI-1, functions as a negative regulator of the LET-23 receptor tyrosine
kinase and our demonstration that Cbl's evolutionarily conserved N-terminal
transforming region (Cbl-N; residues 1 to 357) harbors a phosphotyrosine
binding (PTB) domain that binds to activated ZAP-70 tyrosine kinase, we
examined the possibility that oncogenic Cbl mutants may activate mitogenic
signaling by deregulating cellular tyrosine kinase machinery. Here, we show
that expression of Cbl-N and two other transforming Cbl mutants (CblY368
delta and Cbl366-382 delta or Cb170Z), but not wild-type Cbl, in NIH 3T3
fibroblasts leads to enhancement of endogenous tyrosine kinase signaling.
We identified platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFR alpha)
as one target of mutant Cbl-induced deregulation. In mutant Cbl
transfectants, PDGFR alpha was hyperphosphorylated and constitutively
complexed with a number of SH2 domain-containing proteins. PDGFR alpha
hyperphosphorylation and enhanced proliferation of mutant Cbl-transfected
NIH 3T3 cells were drastically reduced upon serum starvation, and PDGF-AA
substituted for the maintenance of these traits. PDGF-AA stimulation of
serum-starved Cbl transfectants induced the in vivo association of
transfected Cbl proteins with PDGFR alpha. In vitro, Cbl-N directly bound
to PDGFR alpha derived from PDGF-AA- stimulated cells but not to that from
unstimulated cells, and this binding was abrogated by a point mutation
(G306E) corresponding to a loss-of-function mutation in SLI-1. The
Cbl-N/G306E mutant protein, which failed to induce enhanced growth and
transformation of NIH 3T3 cells, also failed to induce hyperphosphorylation
of PDGFR alpha. Altogether, these findings identify a novel mechanism of
Cbl's physiological function and oncogenesis, involving its PTB domain-
dependent direct interaction with cellular tyrosine kinases.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Phosphotyrosine binding domain-dependent upregulation of the platelet- derived growth factor receptor alpha signaling cascade by transforming mutants of Cbl: implications for Cbl's function and oncogenicity
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
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