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Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2000, p. 4371-4380, Vol. 20, No. 12
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Hierarchy of Protein Tyrosine Kinases in Interleukin-2
(IL-2) Signaling: Activation of Syk Depends on Jak3; However,
Neither Syk nor Lck Is Required for IL-2-Mediated STAT
Activation
Yong-Jie
Zhou,1,*
Kelly
S.
Magnuson,2
Tammy P.
Cheng,3
Massimo
Gadina,1
David M.
Frucht,1
Jerome
Galon,1
Fabio
Candotti,4
Robert L.
Geahlen,5
Paul S.
Changelian,2 and
John J.
O'Shea1
Lymphocyte Cell Biology Section, Arthritis and Rheumatism
Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and
Skin Diseases,1 Howard Hughes
Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health Research Scholars
Program,3 and Clinical Gene Therapy
Branch, National Human Genome Research
Institute,4 National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland 20892; Department of Immunology, Pfizer
Central Research, Groton, Connecticut
063402; and Department of Medicinal
Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana 479075
Received 4 February 2000/Accepted 15 March 2000
 |
ABSTRACT |
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) activates several different families of
tyrosine kinases, but precisely how these kinases interact is not
completely understood. We therefore investigated the functional relationships among Jak3, Lck, and Syk in IL-2 signaling. We first observed that in the absence of Jak3, both Lck and Syk had the capacity
to phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a. However, neither supported IL-2-induced STAT activation, nor did dominant negative alleles of
these kinases inhibit. Moreover, pharmacological abrogation of Lck
activity did not inhibit IL-2-mediated phosphorylation of Jak3 and
Stat5a. Importantly, ligand-dependent Syk activation was dependent on
the presence of catalytically active Jak3, whereas Lck activation was
not. Interestingly, Syk functioned as a direct substrate of Jak1 but
not Jak3. Additionally, Jak3 phosphorylated Jak1, whereas the reverse
was not the case. Taken together, our data support a model in which Lck
functions in parallel with Jak3, while Syk functions as a downstream
element of Jaks in IL-2 signaling. Jak3 may regulate Syk catalytic
activity indirectly via Jak1. However, IL-2-mediated Jak3/Stat
activation is not dependent on Lck or Syk. While the essential roles of
Jak1 and Jak3 in signaling by
c-utilizing cytokines are clear, it
will be important to dissect the exact contributions of Lck and Syk in
mediating the effects of IL-2 and related cytokines.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a growth
factor that is important for proliferation and homeostasis of
lymphocytes (22). The IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) contains the
following three subunits: the
chain (IL-2R
), which is expressed
only on activated lymphocytes; the
chain (IL-2R
); and the
common chain (IL-2R
c), a subunit shared by several cytokines
(14, 23, 38). The cytoplasmic domains of IL-2R subunits do
not possess intrinsic enzymatic activity; rather, IL-2 binding induces
oligomerization of IL-2R, which initiates activation of several protein
tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and subsequent phosphorylation of the IL-2R
complex (14, 46).
Among these kinases, Lck was the first reported to be associated with
the cytoplasmic domain of IL-2R
(11, 13, 28, 46). It
constitutively associates with the acidic region (A region; amino acids
[aa] 313 to 382) of IL-2R
via the amino-terminal region of its
kinase domain (12, 28). Mutation of the A region abrogated
Lck binding, and the mutant receptor failed to mediate activation of
Ras and the induction of c-Fos and c-Jun (6, 12, 28, 44,
45). However, IL-2-induced mitogenesis was not impaired (6,
19), and lack of the A region resulted in the enhanced
proliferation of primary T cells (8). The interpretation of
these studies is complicated, however, by the fact that the Shc binding
site (Y338) also resides within the A region (6, 25, 40).
Thus, the distinct contributions of Lck and Shc are not clear with
these mutants. Later, studies on Lck
/
mice demonstrated
that Lck deficiency was associated with defects in T-cell development,
but that T cells from Lck
/
mice exhibited a normal
proliferative response to IL-2 (33). These data suggested
that although Lck is essential for T-cell receptor (TCR)
signaling, it is dispensable for some IL-2-induced events.
Shortly thereafter, Syk kinase was shown to constitutively associate
with IL-2R
and to be activated upon IL-2 stimulation (30, 39,
46). Syk binds the serine-rich region (S region; aa 267 to 322)
of IL-2R
; this region was reported to be required for IL-2-mediated
DNA synthesis and induction of c-Myc, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and
Bax (30, 32). Therefore, IL-2-mediated activation of Syk has
been implicated in two important functions: IL-2-induced proliferation
and antiapoptosis. Further analysis, however, demonstrated that the S
region alone was insufficient for IL-2-induced proliferation, and both
A and C-terminal (aa 383 to 525) regions of IL-2R
were required for
optimal IL-2-induced proliferation (6, 7, 8, 44).
Additionally, although Syk
/
mice had severe defects in
the development and function of B cells, T cells from
Syk
/
mice could support a relatively normal IL-2
response (48). IL-2 activation of Lck and Syk was unable to
fully account for IL-2 signals, which suggested that other PTKs were
primarily responsible for IL-2 signaling.
The Janus kinases (Jaks) are the most recently identified family of
PTKs involved in IL-2 signaling (16, 38, 51). Jak3 constitutively binds the cytoplasmic domain of IL-2R
c and is activated by
c-utilizing cytokines, IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 (16, 17, 34, 42). Jak1, by contrast, binds the
ligand-specific subunit of these receptors (31, 42). For
instance, it constitutively interacts with IL-2R
. But in addition,
Jak3 also binds and phosphorylates IL-2R
upon IL-2 stimulation
(16, 31, 42). Recent studies have shown that the
membrane-proximal region of IL-2R
, which contains box 1 (aa 251 to
259) and box 2 (aa 296 to 306), is vital for binding both Jaks
(55). Moreover, both S and A regions of IL-2R
are also
differentially required for binding to Jak1 (aa 300 to 350) and Jak3
(aa 330 to 362). Thus, some of the abnormalities seen with mutations of
IL-2R
that were initially attributed to interference with Lck and
Syk might also interfere with the function of Jak1 or Jak3. In contrast
to Lck and Syk, the absence of Jak1 or Jak3 has very clear and dramatic
effects on signaling via
c-utilizing cytokines. Deficiency of either
IL-2R
c or Jak3 completely abrogates IL-2 signaling and results in
severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in humans and mice (27,
35, 36, 43, 47). Moreover, deficiency of Jak1 also produces SCID
in mice (41), demonstrating the importance of the Jaks in
signaling by IL-2 and other
c-utilizing cytokines, especially IL-7.
The ligand-induced phosphorylation of receptor subunits by Jaks is
thought to create a docking site for a family of transcription factors,
termed signal transducers and transcriptional activators (STATs), by
virtue of their SH2 domains (4, 15). Subsequently, STATs are
phosphorylated by Jaks on conserved tyrosine residues, which are
required for dimer formation, nuclear translocation, DNA binding, and
transactivation of target genes (5, 23). However, whereas
several studies suggested that Jaks are responsible for the
phosphorylation and activation of STATs in IL-2 signaling (1, 18,
37), Src family kinases and not Jaks were reported to be required
for Stat3 activation in IL-3 signaling (2). In light of the
conflicting reports in different systems, it was important to
understand which PTK is central for IL-2-induced STAT activation and if
Jak3, Lck, and Syk functionally interact each other.
In this study, we first determined the contributions of Jak3, Lck, and
Syk to IL-2-induced STAT activation. We also investigated whether a
hierarchy exists in PTK activation during IL-2 signaling; that is,
whether Lck or Syk activation was Jak3 dependent or Jak3 activation was
Lck/Syk dependent. Our findings indicate that whereas Lck activation
was independent of Jak3 in IL-2 signaling, Syk activation required
Jak3, probably indirectly via activation of Jak1. IL-2-mediated STAT
activation, however, was not dependent on Lck or Syk but was entirely
dependent on Jak3.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Cells and antibodies.
COS-7 cells, 3T3-

cells, U4A
cells, NK3.3 cells, YT cells, and primary human T lymphocytes were
maintained as previously described (3, 17, 21, 24, 29).
Patients with suspected Jak3 deficiency were admitted to the NIH
Clinical Center and apheresed under an Institutional Review
Board-approved protocol. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed human B
cells from a healthy donor and a Jak3-SCID patient have been previously
described (37). The antiphosphotyrosine monoclonal antibody
(MAb) 4G10 and rabbit antiserum against human Lck were purchased from
Upstate Biotechnology (Lake Placid, N.Y.). The antiphosphotyrosine MAb
PY20 was purchased from ICN (Costa Mesa, Calif.), and anti-Lck MAb was
purchased from Transduction Laboratories (Lexington, Ky.). Both rabbit
antiserum and MAb against human Syk were purchased from Santa Cruz
Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, Calif.), and the rabbit antiserum against
human Stat3 was kindly provided by Andrew Larner (Cleveland Clinic
Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio). Rabbit antisera against human Jak3 and
Stat5a were generated by our laboratory as described elsewhere (3, 16, 21).
Plasmid, mutagenesis, and transfection.
The expression cDNA
constructs pME18SJak3 and pME18SK855A were constructed as described
previously (54) and are referred to as wild-type Jak3
(Jak3-wt) and kinase-inactive Jak3 (K855A), respectively. The cDNA
constructs for human Lck-505 (kinase-active Lck), Lck-wt, and Lck-kd
(kinase-inactive Lck) were kindly provided by Lawrence Samelson
(National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.). The cDNA constructs for
murine Stat3 and Stat5a were provided by Andrew Larner and Lothar
Hennighausen (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases, Bethesda, Md.), respectively. The cDNA constructs of murine
Syk-wt and Syk-kd were subcloned into pRc/CMV vector (Invitrogen,
Carlsbad, Calif.). For transient transfection, U4A cells were
transfected with 5 µg of each cDNA by a LipofectAMINE method (GIBCO
BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.), while COS-7 cells were transfected with 5 µg
of each cDNA by a DEAE-dextran method (Promega, Madison, Wis.),
according to the manufacturer's instructions.
To measure STAT transcriptional activity, 3 × 105
3T3-

cells were transfected with 0.4 µg of a STAT reporter
gene (p3xIRF-luc, a luciferase reporter gene driven by three
copies of the STAT binding site of the IRF-1 gene, kindly
provided by Richard Pine, Public Health Research Institute, New York,
N.Y.) alone or cotransfected with the STAT reporter gene plus other
indicated cDNAs (0.5 µg) by a LipofectAMINE method. One day later,
cells were starved overnight and incubated with or without IL-2 (1,000 U/ml; kindly provided by C. Reynolds, National Cancer Institute,
Frederick, Md.) for 5 h at 37°C. Luciferase activity was
measured with a luciferase assay system (Promega). In each experiment,
DNA amounts were normalized by addition of plasmid DNA and samples were
analyzed in triplicate.
Kinase inhibition assay.
Log-phase YT cells (107
cells/ml in RPMI with 1% fetal calf serum) were added to 24-well
plates (0.5 ml each) and incubated with or without kinase inhibitor
(CP-118556 or staurosporine) in 0.6% dimethyl sulfoxide for 30 min at
37°C. After IL-2 stimulation (1,000 U/ml) for 15 min at 37°C, the
cells were washed with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline containing 10 mM sodium orthovanadate and 10 mM EDTA and then lysed for
immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting.
Immunoprecipitation, immunoblotting, and immune complex kinase
assay.
Cells were lysed on ice as previously described
(54). Cell debris was removed by centrifugation for 15 min
at 14,000 rpm, and the supernatants were immunoprecipitated with
anti-Jak3, anti-Lck, anti-Syk, anti-Stat3, and anti-Stat5a antisera as
indicated. The immunoprecipitates were washed three times with lysis
buffer and then eluted from the beads by boiling the beads in the
sample buffer. For in vitro kinase assays, the immune complexes of
Jak3, Lck, or Syk were washed one additional time with 100 mM NaCl and 10 mM HEPES (pH 7.5) and resuspended in 50 µl of kinase reaction buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.5], 5 mM MgCl2, 5 mM
MnCl2, 1 µM ATP) containing 1 µCi of
[
-32P]ATP (Amersham, Arlington Heights, Ill.). The in
vitro kinase reactions of Jak3 were performed on ice, and others were
performed at room temperature for the times indicated. The reactions
were terminated by addition of 50 µl of ice-cold lysis buffer
containing 50 mM EDTA. Samples were separated by sodium dodecyl
sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), transferred to
nitrocellulose, and subjected to autoradiography or immunoblotted with
indicated antibodies. The radioactivity incorporated by Lck, Syk, and
Jak3 was quantitated using a STORM PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics), and protein levels were quantitated by densitometric scanning of the
film (54).
Tyrosine kinase ELISA.
Kinases used for in vitro analysis of
inhibitors were purified proteins, containing the catalytic domain of
Jak3 or Lck fused to glutathione S-transferase (K. S. Magnuson et al., unpublished data). Nunc Maxi-Sorp 96-well flat-bottom
plates were coated with 100 µg of the random copolymer
L-glutamic acid and tyrosine (4:1; Sigma) per ml dissolved
in Dulbecco's PBS (D-PBS) and incubated overnight at 37°C. Prior to
a kinase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), coated plates were
washed three times in washing buffer (D-PBS plus 0.5% Tween 20). In
addition to the assay buffer (50 mM HEPES [pH 7.3], 125 mM NaCl, 24 mM MgCl2, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate), an appropriate
concentration of ATP (0.2 µM for Jak3 and 0.3 µM for Lck) was added
to each well, and dilutions of the kinase inhibitors and tyrosine
kinases (approximately 100 ng enzyme/well) were added as described in
the relevant figure legend. The assay plates were shaken at room
temperature for 30 min and washed three times in wash buffer.
Antiphosphotyrosine antibody PY20 (50 µl, diluted 1:1,700 in D-PBS
plus 3% bovine serum albumin) was added to each well. Plates were
again shaken at room temperature for 25 min, followed by three washes
with washing buffer. The horseradish peroxidase-conjugated PY20
antibody was detected by adding 50 µl of tetramethylbenzidine
(Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories, Gaithersburg, Md.), and color
development was stopped by adding 0.09 M H2SO4 to each well. Absorbance was read as optical density at 450 nm on a
SpectroMax 340 96-well plate reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, Calif.).
 |
RESULTS |
Lck can phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a when coexpressed.
For
IL-3 signaling, it has been argued that c-Src and not Jaks are critical
for ligand-dependent STAT activation (2). To determine if
Lck plays a role in IL-2-induced STAT activation, we first examined its
capacity to phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a in an overexpression system.
To this end, COS cells were transfected with cDNAs encoding Stat3 (Fig.
1A, lanes 1 to 5) or Stat5a (Fig. 1A,
lanes 6 to 10) with catalytically active or inactive forms of Jak3 or
Lck and immunoblotted with antiphosphotyrosine MAb (Fig. 1A, upper
panels). Consistent with previous observations (54),
phosphorylation of Stat3 and Stat5a was observed upon coexpression with
Jak3-wt (upper panels, lanes 1 and 6) but not with the catalytically
inactive mutant K855A (upper panels, lanes 2 and 7). Additionally, both
Lck-wt (upper panels, lanes 3 and 8) and the constitutively active form
Lck-505 (upper panels, lanes 5 and 10) phosphorylated Stat3 and Stat5a
when coexpressed. As a negative control, catalytically inactive Lck
(Lck-kd) was also analyzed and, as expected, did not phosphorylate
either Stat3 or Stat5a (upper panels, lanes 4 and 9), confirming that
the catalytic activity of Lck was required to phosphorylate the STATs.
To ensure that equivalent levels of Stat3 or Stat5a were analyzed, the
membranes were stripped and reblotted with anti-Stat3 (lower panel,
lanes 1 to 5) or anti-Stat5a (lower panel, lanes 6 to 10) antiserum, and similar amounts of STAT proteins were detected in each sample. These data demonstrated that Lck could phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a
in the absence of Jak3, suggesting that Lck might play a role in
IL-2-induced STAT activation.

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FIG. 1.
Lck can phosphorylate and activate STATs but does not
mediate IL-2-dependent phosphorylation and activation. (A) COS-7 cells
were transfected with either Stat3 (lanes 1 to 5) or Stat5a (lanes 6 to
10), together with cDNAs encoding Jak3, K855A, Lck-wt, Lck-kd, or
Lck-505 as indicated. Two days later, cell lysates were
immunoprecipitated with anti-Stat3 (lanes 1 to 5) or anti-Stat5a (lanes
6 to 10) antiserum. The immune complexes were separated by SDS-PAGE,
transferred to nitrocellulose, and immunoblotted with
antiphosphotyrosine (anti PTyr) MAb 4G10 (upper panels) or anti-Stat3
and anti-Stat5a antisera (lower panels). (B to D) 3T3-  cells
were transfected with the STAT reporter construct p3xIRF-luc
alone or with one or more cDNAs encoding catalytically active or
inactive versions of Lck and Jak3 as indicated. Two days later, the
cells were incubated without or with IL-2 for 5 h, and luciferase
activity was determined. (E) 3T3-  cells were transfected with
one or more cDNAs encoding catalytically active or inactive versions of
Lck and Jak3 as indicated. Two days later, the cells were incubated
without or with IL-2 for 15 min, and phosphorylation of Stat5a and
Stat3 was visualized.
|
|
Catalytically active Jak3 is required for IL-2-induced STAT
activation, and catalytically inactive Lck does not block
Jak3-dependent STAT activation.
Since Lck could phosphorylate
Stat3 and Stat5a when overexpressed in COS cells, we next investigated
whether Lck played a functional role in IL-2-induced STAT activation.
We used 3T3-

cells, fibroblasts which express all three IL-2R
subunits and Jak1 but which lack Jak3 and Lck (3, 29). This
system allows for evaluation of each of these kinases separately or in
combination in mediating IL-2-induced STAT activation using a
luciferase reporter construct (p3xIRF-luc). As shown in Fig.
1B, without the transfected kinases, there was no transactivation of
the reporter gene in 3T3-

cells. These results are consistent
with previous studies of cells from Jak3-SCID patients and further
confirmed that Jak1 cannot support IL-2-induced transactivation of STAT
in the absence of Jak3 (3, 37). Consistent with the STAT
phosphorylation seen in COS cells (Fig. 1A), expression of Lck-wt or
Lck-505 in 3T3-

cells resulted in constitutive
transactivation. However, although Lck had the capacity to
phosphorylate and activate STATs, IL-2-induced activation did not occur
in the absence of Jak3.
To further ascertain whether IL-2-induced STAT activation was dependent
on Lck, we next expressed Lck-kd alone or with Jak3
in 3T3-



cells to determine if the former could block IL-2 signaling.
As is
evident in Fig.
1C, Lck-kd did not support STAT-mediated
transactivation, demonstrating that catalytic activity of Lck
is
essential for the constitutive STAT activation. More important,
expression of Lck-kd had no effect on the IL-2-mediated STAT activation
that occurs in the presence of Jak3; Lck-kd and Jak3 resulted
in STAT
activation equivalent to that seen when Jak3 was expressed
alone upon
IL-2 stimulation of cells. Thus, the catalytically
inactive Lck did not
block Jak3-dependent IL-2-induced STAT activation,
indicating that Lck
is likely not required for this aspect of
IL-2
signaling.
We were next interested in determining whether Lck could functionally
cooperate with Jak3. Figure
1D shows that the combination
of Lck-505
and Jak3 increased basal STAT transactivation and the
maximal level of
IL-2-inducible transactivation. However, the
magnitude of
ligand-dependent induction was actually less when
Lck-505 was present
(3-fold increase when Jak3 and Lck-505 were
coexpressed [Fig.
1D] but
15-fold increase when Jak3 was expressed
alone [Fig.
1C]). This
experiment also illustrates that absence
of IL-2 responsiveness upon
Lck-505 expression was not simply
because the system was saturated
(Fig.
1B); in the presence of
Jak3, further IL-2-dependent enhancement
was observed (Fig.
1D).
Catalytic activity of Jak3 was required because
Lck-505 did not
increase the IL-2-induced STAT activation when
cotransfected with
the catalytically inactive mutant K855A (Fig.
1D).
Finally, we
examined the effects of Lck on IL-2-induced STAT
phosphorylation
(Fig.
1E). Our results show that Jak3 (lanes 7 and 8),
but not
Lck (lanes 5 and 6), permitted IL-2-dependent STAT
phosphorylation
and catalytically inactive Lck did not block
Jak3-mediated STAT
phosphorylation (lanes 9 and 10). At this level of
expression,
little constitutive STAT phosphorylation was apparent
(lanes 5
and 6). The discrepancy between these results (Fig.
1E) and
Lck-mediated
constitutive activation of STAT reporter gene is
presumably indicative
of the sensitivity of the luciferase assay (Fig.
1B), because
at higher levels of expression of Lck in COS cells,
constitutive
STAT phosphorylation was readily detected by
immunoblotting (Fig.
1A, lanes 3, 5, 8, and 10). Taken together, our
data support the
idea that the catalytic activity of Jak3 is essential
for IL-2-induced
STAT phosphorylation and activation. The data also
suggest that
Lck might affect the basal level of STAT activation but
not IL-2-dependent
STAT
activation.
The Lck-specific inhibitor does not block IL-2-induced
phosphorylation of Jak3 and Stat5a.
The preceding experiments
showed that catalytically inactive Lck did not block
Jak3-dependent IL-2-induced STAT activation, suggesting that
IL-2-induced Jak3/Stat activation is not dependent on Lck. To confirm
this idea, we turned to a second line of inquiry, namely, the effect of
a well-characterized Src family kinase inhibitor, CP-118556
(10), on IL-2-induced Jak3 and Stat5a activation. We first
ascertained that this inhibitor did not directly affect the catalytic
activity of Jak3. The activity of purified fusion proteins of Lck and
Jak3 was measured in the presence of CP-118556 or staurosporine using a
kinase ELISA (Fig. 2A). The results show that CP-118556 potently inhibited the catalytic activity of Lck at
nanomolar concentrations but had no effect on Jak3 catalytic activity
up to a concentration of 10 µM. In contrast, the nonspecific kinase
inhibitor staurosporine blocked the catalytic activity of both Jak3 and
Lck at nanomolar concentrations.

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FIG. 2.
Inhibition of Lck does not block IL-2-induced
phosphorylation of Jak3 and Stat5a. (A) In vitro catalytic activity of
Lck and Jak3 was detected by ELISA using random copolymers of
L-glutamic acid and tyrosine as the substrate. Prior to the
kinase assay, each well was incubated with an appropriate concentration
of ATP and dilutions of the indicated kinase inhibitors, after which
recombinant kinase domains of Lck and Jak3 were added. Values represent
50% inhibitory concentrations of CP-118556 and staurosporine for Lck
and Jak3. (B to E) YT cells were incubated without (lanes 1 and 2) or
with (lanes 3 to 5) inhibitors at 37°C (30 min), followed by IL-2
stimulation (15 min, lanes 2 to 5). The cells were lysed and
immunoprecipitated with anti-Jak3 (B and C) or anti-Stat5a (D and E)
antiserum. The immune complexes were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred
to nitrocellulose, and immunoblotted with antiphosphotyrosine (anti
PTyr) MAb 4G10 (B to E, upper panels), anti-Jak3 antiserum (B and C,
lower panels), and anti-Stat5a antiserum (D and E, lower panels).
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|
Given that CP-118556 inhibited Lck but not Jak3, we next determined the
effect of this compound on IL-2-induced phosphorylation
of Jak3 and
Stat5a. To this end, YT cells were preincubated with
CP-118556 (Fig.
2B
and D) or staurosporine (Fig.
2C and E) and
then treated with IL-2. As
shown in Fig.
2B, phosphorylation of
Jak3 was evident upon IL-2
stimulation (upper panel, lane 2),
and the IL-2-induced phosphorylation
of Jak3 was not affected
by the Lck inhibitor up to a concentration of
10 µM (upper panel,
lanes 3 to 5). Phosphorylation of Stat5a was also
detected upon
IL-2 stimulation (Fig.
2D, upper panel, lane 2), and
IL-2-induced
phosphorylation of Stat5a was not altered in the presence
of CP-118556
(upper panel, lanes 3 to 5). These results indicated that
inhibition
of Lck kinase had no effect on IL-2-induced Jak3 catalytic
activity
and subsequent STAT activation. In contrast, we have shown
that
CP-118556 can inhibit anti-CD3-induced proliferation of primary
human peripheral blood lymphocytes with a potency of 500 nM
(
10).
As a further control, we used the nonspecific kinase
inhibitor
staurosporine and found that it inhibited phosphorylation of
both
Jak3 and Stat5a (Fig.
2C and E, upper panel, lanes 3 to 5). In
each case, the membranes were stripped of detecting antibody and
reprobed for Jak3 and Stat5a to confirm equal loading. We concluded
from these experiments that activation of Jak3 and subsequent
STAT
activation are not dependent on Lck kinase or other Src family
kinases.
IL-2-mediated Lck activation is not dependent on Jak3 catalytic
activity.
Our data showed that Lck has no effect on the
IL-2-induced phosphorylation and activation of Jak3 and Stat5a, but
these studies did not address whether IL-2-induced activation of Lck
requires Jak3. To investigate this issue, we next analyzed the
ligand-dependent activation of Lck in the presence or absence of Jak3.
Cells were incubated with IL-2, and Lck catalytic activity and Jak3
phosphorylation were determined (Fig. 3A
and B). As shown in Fig. 3A, IL-2 augmented Lck catalytic activity in
the positive control, NK cells, with its kinase activity increasing
after 1 min of IL-2 stimulation (upper panel, lanes 1 to 4).
Interestingly, IL-2-mediated Lck activation was observed in both
Jak3-expressing (upper panel, lanes 9 and 10) and Jak3-deficient (upper
panel, lanes 6 and 7) fibroblasts. Consistent with observations in NK
cells, Lck catalytic activity was enhanced about twofold upon 1 min of
IL-2 stimulation, and the level of Lck activation was comparable in the
absence or presence of Jak3, suggesting that Jak3 plays little role in Lck activation. IL-2-induced Jak3 phosphorylation was readily observed
in both NK cells and 3T3-

Jak3Lck cells upon IL-2 stimulation (Fig. 3B, upper panel, lanes 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10). As expected, Jak3
phosphorylation was not seen in 3T3-

Lck cells due to their lack of this protein (Fig. 3B, upper panel, lanes 5 and 7).
Additionally, consistent with the experiments using the Lck inhibitor
(Fig. 2B), Jak3 phosphorylation was unaffected by the presence or
absence of Lck (data not shown). Again, the membranes were blotted for Lck (Fig. 3A, lower panel) or Jak3 (Fig. 3B, lower panel) to confirm equivalent amounts of protein. These results demonstrate that IL-2-mediated activation of Lck is not dependent on Jak3 and suggest that Lck does not function downstream of Jak3 in IL-2 signaling.

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FIG. 3.
IL-2-dependent activation of Lck does not require Jak3.
(A and B) 3T3-  (lanes 5 to 7) and 3T3-  Jak3 (lanes 8 to 10) cells were transfected with cDNA encoding Lck-505 and then
incubated with or without IL-2. NK3.3 cells were used as a positive
control for IL-2-mediated activation of Jak3 and Lck (lanes 1 to 4). (C
and D) Primary human T lymphocytes (107 cells per point)
from a healthy individual (lanes 1 to 4) or a patient with Jak3
mutation (lanes 5 to 8) were activated with phytohemagglutinin for 3 days, starved overnight, and then incubated without (lanes 1 and 5) or
with IL-2 for 1 (lanes 2 and 6), 5 (lanes 3 and 7), and 15 (lanes 4 and
8) min. Cells were lysed and immunoprecipitated with anti-Lck (A and C)
or anti-Jak3 (B and D) antiserum. Immune complex kinase assays of Lck
were performed in the presence of [ -32P]ATP for 30 min
and then stopped by the addition of 1× lysis buffer. Immune complexes
were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, subjected to
autoradiography (A and C, upper panels), and subsequently immunoblotted
with anti-Lck MAb (A and C, lower panels). Anti-Jak3 immune complexes
were immunoblotted with antiphosphotyrosine (anti PTyr) MAb 4G10 (B,
upper panel) and then probed with anti-Jak3 antiserum (B, lower panel,
and D).
|
|
Since the above results were obtained using nonlymphoid cells, we next
further investigated whether IL-2-induced activation
of Lck requires
Jak3 in human T lymphocytes. We analyzed primary
human T lymphocytes
from a healthy individual (lanes 1 to 4) and
a Jak3-deficient
individual who produced some T cells (lanes 5
to 8 and unpublished
data) and analyzed the ligand-dependent activation
of Lck in both
circumstances (Fig.
3C). Cells were incubated with
or without IL-2, and
Lck catalytic activity was then determined.
IL-2-mediated Lck
activation was observed in both normal (Fig.
3C, upper panel, lanes 2 to 4) and Jak3-deficient (upper panel,
lanes 6 to 8) T lymphocytes. In
contrast, IL-2-dependent STAT
phosphorylation was dramatically reduced
in Jak3-deficient T lymphocytes
(data not shown). As expected, Jak3 was
readily detected in normal
T lymphocytes (Fig.
3D, lanes 1 to 4), but
little was seen in
Jak3-deficient T lymphocytes (lanes 6 to 8). Higher
levels of
Lck expression as well as constitutive kinase activity were
also
detected in normal T lymphocytes (lower panel, lanes 1 to 4)
compared
to the Jak3-deficient T lymphocytes (lower panel, lanes 5 to
8).
We do not know why the basal activity of Lck from the
Jak3-deficient
patient is reduced. However, Jak3-deficient patients
typically
do not produce T lymphocytes (
23,
27,
43), so we
do not
know for certain whether the low level of Lck is a consistent
finding. Nonetheless, the activation of Lck in Jak3-deficient
cells is
of about 1.5- to 2.5-fold in response to IL-2 (
13,
19).
Taken together, these results argue that IL-2-mediated
Lck activation
is independent of Jak3. These findings are consistent
with a previous
report in which IL-2-induced Lck activation in
resting T cells was
interpreted to be independent of Jak3 activation
as well
(
9).
Based on preceding experiments, we conclude the following regarding the
function of Lck in IL-2 signal transduction: (i) Lck
activation is not
Jak3 dependent, (ii) Jak3 activation is not
Lck dependent, and (iii)
IL-2-induced STAT activation is Jak3
dependent but not dependent on Lck
or other Src PTKs. Thus, Jak3
and Lck function in parallel in IL-2
signaling.
Syk phosphorylates Stat3 and Stat5a when coexpressed but is not
required for IL-2-induced STAT activation.
Syk has been shown to
interact with the S region of IL-2R
, an interaction required for
IL-2-mediated activation of the kinase and subsequent IL-2-mediated
proliferation (30, 32, 46). However, it has been previously
unclear whether Syk contributes to STAT activation. To address this
issue, as in our studies of Lck, we first investigated the capacity of
Syk to phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a in an overexpression system (Fig.
4A). COS cells were transfected with
Stat3 or Stat5a in the absence (lanes 3 and 6) or presence (lanes 1 and
4) of Syk. As shown in Fig. 4A, upon overexpression, Syk phosphorylated
both Stat3 and Stat5a (upper panels, lanes 1 and 4), whereas no
phosphorylation was observed in its absence or in the presence of
catalytically inactive Syk (upper panels, lanes 2, 3, 5, and 6).
Immunoblotting revealed that STAT proteins were equally loaded in each
sample (lower panels). These data indicate that Syk has the capacity to
phosphorylate STAT proteins in the absence of Jak3 and thus may play a
role in IL-2-induced STAT activation.

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FIG. 4.
Syk can phosphorylate and activate STATs but does not
mediate IL-2-dependent phosphorylation and activation. (A) COS-7 cells
were transfected with either Stat3 (lanes 1 to 3) or Stat5a (lanes 4 to
6), together with cDNAs encoding Syk-wt. Syk-kd as indicated. Two days
later, cells were lysed and immunoprecipitated with anti-Stat3 (lanes 1 to 3) or anti-Stat5a (lanes 4 to 6) antiserum. The immune complexes
were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, and
immunoblotted with antiphosphotyrosine (anti PTyr) MAb 4G10 (upper
panels) or anti-Stat3 and anti-Stat5a antisera (lower panels). (B to D)
As indicated, 3T3-  cells were transfected with the STAT
reporter construct p3xIRF-luc and cDNAs encoding Syk-wt,
Syk-kd, Jak3, and K855A separately or in combination. Two days later,
the cells were incubated without or with IL-2 (5 h), and luciferase
activity was measured. (E) 3T3-  cells were transfected with
one or more cDNAs encoding catalytically active or inactive versions of
Syk and Jak3 as indicated. Two days later, the cells were incubated
without or with IL-2 for 15 min, and phosphorylation of Stat5a and
Stat3 was visualized.
|
|
To test this hypothesis, we again used 3T3-



cells, which lack
Syk kinase (
3,
29). 3T3-



cells were transfected
with
the STAT reporter construct along with cDNAs encoding
catalytically
active Syk. Our results showed that expression of Syk did
not
allow for an IL-2-induced STAT activation in the absence of Jak3
but caused an increased basal level of STAT activation (Fig.
4B).
This
increased basal level of STAT activation was not observed
when
Syk was absent in 3T3-



cells (Fig.
4B) and was consistent
with
the observations in COS cells (Fig.
4A).
To further define the function of Syk in IL-2-induced STAT activation,
we next assessed whether catalytically inactive Syk
(Syk-kd) could
block IL-2-induced STAT activation. As shown in
Fig.
4C, coexpression
of Syk-kd with Jak3 gave a similar level
of IL-2-induced STAT
transactivation compared to cells in which
Jak3 was expressed alone,
and thus the catalytically inactive
Syk did not block Jak3-dependent
IL-2-induced STAT activation.
These data suggest that Syk, like Lck, is
not required for IL-2-induced
STAT
activation.
Having shown that Syk cannot facilitate IL-2-induced STAT activation in
the absence of Jak3, we next investigated whether
Syk could influence
IL-2-induced STAT activation in the presence
of Jak3. As observed in
Fig.
4D, expression of Syk enhanced IL-2-induced
STAT activation in the
presence of Jak3, but the magnitude of
ligand-dependent induction was
not greater when Syk was present
(7-fold increase when Jak3 and Syk
were coexpressed [Fig.
4D]
but 15-fold increase when Jak3 was
expressed alone [Fig.
4C]).
Furthermore, the augmentation of
IL-2-induced STAT activation
by Syk required the catalytic activity of
Jak3, as Syk did not
increase the IL-2-induced STAT activation in the
presence of catalytically
inactive Jak3 (Fig.
4D). Examination of the
effects of Syk on
IL-2-induced STAT phosphorylation (Fig.
4E) revealed
that IL-2-induced
STAT phosphorylation was also dependent on Jak3
(lanes 7 and 8)
but not Syk (lanes 5 and 6); moreover, catalytically
inactive
Syk did not block IL-2-induced STAT phosphorylation (lanes 9 and
10). Like Lck (Fig.
1E, lanes 5 and 6), Syk expression also did
not
constitutively phosphorylate STAT at this level of expression
(Fig.
4E,
lanes 5 and 6). Therefore, the discrepancy between these
results (Fig.
4E) and Syk-mediated constitutive activation of
STAT reporter gene
(Fig.
4B) might be also a reflection of the
sensitivity of the
luciferase assay, given that constitutive STAT
phosphorylation was
readily detected at higher levels of expression
of Syk in COS cells
(Fig.
4A). Taken together, these data further
support the contention
that the catalytic activity of Jak3 is
essential for IL-2-induced STAT
activation.
IL-2-mediated activation of Syk is dependent on Jak3.
In
previous studies, the S region of IL-2R
has been shown to be
critical for IL-2-mediated activation of Syk (30, 32, 46).
These studies, however, did not investigate the requirement of Jak3 in
this event. To define the role of Jak3 in IL-2-mediated activation of
Syk, we used EBV-transformed healthy human B cells and B cells obtained
from a Jak3-deficient patient, as B cells normally express IL-2R
constitutively and respond to this cytokine (37). As seen in
Fig. 5A, normal human B cells have low
levels of catalytically active Syk prior to IL-2 stimulation (upper
panel, lane 5); however, IL-2 markedly but transiently augmented its kinase activity in Jak3-containing cells, reaching a maximal level upon
5 min of IL-2 stimulation (about 3.2-fold increase; upper panel, lane
7). In contrast, when IL-2-induced kinase activity of Syk was evaluated
in Jak3-deficient B cells, augmentation of Syk kinase activity was
abrogated (upper panel, lanes 1 to 4). Figure 5B shows the
IL-2-mediated regulation of Jak3 catalytic activity. Jak3 kinase
activity was present prior to IL-2 stimulation (Fig. 5B, upper panel,
lane 5), but its kinase activity was enhanced upon IL-2 stimulation,
reaching a maximal level upon 5 min of IL-2 stimulation (about twofold
increase; upper panel, lane 7). For comparison, Jak3-deficient cells
are shown in lanes 1 to 4. As expected, no Jak3 was detected in
these cells (Fig. 5B, lower panel). Thus, the catalytic activities of
both Jak3 and Syk were activated upon IL-2 stimulation, and activation
of Syk requires Jak3.

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FIG. 5.
Activation of Syk by IL-2 is dependent on Jak3.
EBV-transformed human B cell lines from a healthy individual (lanes 5 to 8) or a patient with Jak3 deficiency (lanes 1 to 4) were incubated
without (lanes 1 and 5) or with IL-2 for 1 (lanes 2 and 6), 5 (lanes 3 and 7) and 10 (lanes 4 and 8) min. Cell lysates were immunoprecipitated
with anti-Syk (A) or anti-Jak3 (B) antiserum. In vitro kinase assays of
Syk and Jak3 were performed on the immune complexes at room temperature
for 5 min. Samples were then separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred to
nitrocellulose, and subjected to autoradiography (A and B, upper
panels) or immunoblotted with anti-Syk MAb (A, lower panel) or
anti-Jak3 antiserum (B, lower panel).
|
|
Jak1, but not Jak3, phosphorylates Syk.
Since our data
suggested that IL-2-mediated Syk activation requires Jak3, we next
investigated possible mechanisms by which this might occur. We first
tested if Syk is the direct substrate of either Jak by overexpressing
catalytically active or inactive versions of the various kinases (Fig.
6A). As expected, phosphorylation of
Syk-wt was readily observed (upper panel, lane 6), whereas no
phosphorylation of catalytically inactive Syk was seen (upper panel,
lane 5). Interestingly, coexpression of catalytic active Jak3 did not
result in Syk phosphorylation (upper panel, lane 1), whereas
coexpression of catalytic active Jak1 clearly did (upper panel, lane
3). When we reprobed the membrane with anti-Syk antibody, the
phosphorylated Syk appeared as a slower-migrating band (lower panel,
lanes 3 and 6). Taken together, these results demonstrate that although
Jak3 is required for Syk activation, Syk may be a direct substrate of
Jak1.

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FIG. 6.
Phosphorylation of Syk by Jak1 but not by Jak3. (A)
COS-7 cells were transfected with one or more cDNAs encoding
catalytically active or inactive versions of Syk, Jak1, or Jak3 as
indicated. Two days later, cells were lysed and immunoprecipitated with
an anti-Syk antibody. The immune complexes were separated by SDS-PAGE,
transferred to nitrocellulose, and immunoblotted with
antiphosphotyrosine (anti PTyr) MAb 4G10 (upper panel) or anti-Syk
antibody (lower panel). (B) U4A cells were transfected with one or more
cDNAs encoding catalytically active or inactive versions of Jak1 and
Jak3 as indicated. The immune complexes were separated by SDS-PAGE,
transferred to nitrocellulose, and immunoblotted with
antiphosphotyrosine MAb 4G10 (upper panels), followed by immunoblotting
with anti-Jak3 (lanes 1 to 3, lower panel) and anti-Jak1 antibody
(lanes 4 to 6, lower panel).
|
|
If Syk is not a direct substrate of Jak3, we next reasoned that perhaps
Jak1 is activated by Jak3 and activated Jak1 in turn
phosphorylates
Syk. To determine whether Jak3 and Jak1 could phosphorylate
each other,
we expressed the catalytically active or inactive
versions of Jak1 or
Jak3 in U4A cells, a somatic mutant human
fibrosarcoma cell line
lacking both Jak1 and Jak3 (
24). Our
results showed that
Jak1 is a good substrate for Jak3 (Fig.
6B,
upper panel, lane 4), but
the reverse is not the case (upper panel,
lane 3). These results are in
agreement with a previous report
that IL-2 activation of Jak1 functions
downstream of Jak3 (
52).
In related experiments, we also
examined whether Syk could phosphorylate
Jak1 or Jak3, but did not find
this to be the case (data not shown).
Thus, our findings support the
notion that Jak3 regulates Syk
kinase indirectly via activation of Jak1
upon IL-2
stimulation.
In summary, these experiments indicated the following: (i) Syk has the
capacity to phosphorylate STAT transcription factors,
(ii) in the
absence of Jak3, Syk does not support IL-2-induced
STAT phosphorylation
and activation, (iii) Syk is not required
for IL-2-induced STAT
phosphorylation and activation, (iv) Syk
activation is Jak3 dependent,
and (v) Jak3 is necessary, but not
sufficient, to mediate Syk
activation.
 |
DISCUSSION |
In this study, we have investigated the functional interactions
among Jak3, Lck, and Syk in IL-2 signaling with an emphasis on the
activation of STAT transcription factors. Our data indicate that Lck or
Syk alone has the capacity to phosphorylate Stat3 and Stat5a in COS
cells, but neither supports IL-2-induced STAT activation in the absence
of Jak3. Furthermore, the absence of either Lck or Syk, or the
overexpression of their catalytically inactive versions, does not block
IL-2-induced STAT phosphorylation or activation as long as Jak3 is
present. More importantly, we find that IL-2-mediated activation of Syk
is dependent on Jak3, whereas the activation of Lck is Jak3 independent.
At the outset of our studies, we considered several possibilities
regarding the interactions of Lck, Syk, and Jaks in IL-2 signaling.
These simple models are diagrammed in Fig.
7. The data generated in our studies
argue that with respect to Lck and Jak3 interactions, models 1a and 1b
are not likely to be correct (Fig. 7A). That is, in the absence of Lck,
expression of a catalytically inactive Lck or addition of a
pharmacological inhibitor of Lck failed to block Jak3 activation and
IL-2-induced STAT activation. This supports the contention that Jak3 is
not dependent on Lck either for its activation or for its ability to
activate STAT transcription factors. Interestingly, the data provided
by this and previous studies clearly indicate that Lck has the capacity to activate STAT proteins (26, 50, 53). So, does Lck play any role in IL-2 induced STAT activation? Our data suggest that Lck is
clearly not required, in sharp contrast with studies on IL-3 signaling
in which Src kinases and not Jaks were found to be required for
ligand-induced STAT activation (2). Though our results
suggest that Lck has little effect on IL-2-induced STAT activation,
they do indicate that Lck might influence the set point of STAT
activation, an action possibly mediated by a receptor other than the
IL-2R. Since a recent study indicated that TCR-dependent signaling can
indeed lead to Stat 5 activation (50), it is quite possible
that Lck could contribute to STAT activation in this manner.
Our data also indicate that IL-2 mediated activation of Lck is Jak3
independent (Fig. 7A, model 1c). In a previous study, which examined
IL-2 signaling in unactivated lymphocytes, the authors concluded that
IL-2 could activate Lck without activation of Jaks (9).
These cells expressed low levels of Jak3, but it is clearly not absent
in unactivated T cells. Our results in 3T3-

cells that
completely lack Jak3 and Jak3-deficient T lymphocytes support this conclusion.
A number of functions have been attributed to Lck in IL-2 signaling,
but some of these conclusions pertaining to Lck were derived from the
studies of IL-2R
mutations (8, 12, 28, 45, 46). We now
know that the A region of the IL-2R
is important for binding not
only Lck but also Jak1, Jak3, and Shc (6, 40, 55). Thus, it
is more difficult now to relate the consequences of deleting this
domain with actions of any specific intermediate that binds this region.
Nonetheless, several studies have argued for the importance of Lck in
suppressing apoptosis. One study concluded that activated Lck (Lck-505)
could cooperate with either c-Myc or Bcl-2 in suppression of apoptosis,
suggesting a role of Lck in transmitting antiapoptosis signals
(32). Another study analyzed IL-2 signaling in resting T
cells and showed IL-2-dependent Lck activation in the absence of
detectable Jak phosphorylation. This correlated with
phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3K) activation and PI-3K-dependent
induction of Bcl-xL (9). Taken together, one
function of Lck, independent of Jak3 in IL-2 signaling, might be
suppression of apoptosis. This signal might be especially important
early during lymphocyte activation when Jak3 expression is very low,
since Lck can evidently be activated irrespective of the presence or
absence of Jak3.
Although IL-2 has been shown to activate Syk (30, 39, 46),
the data provided by our study argue against models in which Syk
contributes to Jak3 activation in IL-2 signaling (Fig. 7B, models 2a).
The converse appears to be true: Jak3 is required for Syk activation
(model 2c). Syk, however, does not appear to be a direct Jak3
substrate, but it does have the capacity to be a Jak1 substrate. In
addition, our data and data from a previous study demonstrate that Jak1
functions as a direct substrate of Jak3, but the reverse is not the
case (24, 37, 52); furthermore, we found that Syk did
not phosphorylate either Jak1 or Jak3 (data not shown). Taken together,
our observations support the idea that IL-2-mediated Jak
activation functions upstream of Syk. Ligand-induced aggregation
of IL-2R results in juxtapositioning Jak1 and Jak3, which
facilitates Jak3 transphosphorylation of Jak1. Our data suggest that
Jak1 then phosphorylates Syk. Therefore, Jak3 is necessary, but not
sufficient, to effect Syk activation. While Syk appears to be
downstream of Jaks, it is clearly not required for IL-2-induced STAT
phosphorylation and transactivation (model 2b). That is, it does not
appear to be an intermediate between the Jaks and STATs, since the
dominant negative mutant Syk did not block Jak3 dependent IL-2-induced
STAT activation.
As in studies of Lck, several functions have been attributed to Syk, as
various mutations of IL-2R
disrupt the ability to associate and
activate Syk, resulting in various functional defects in IL-2 signaling
(30, 32, 46). The inference has been made that Syk is
responsible for various functions including c-Myc induction and
cellular proliferation. However, it is clear now that the S region of
the IL-2R
is important not only for binding Syk but also for binding
Jak1 and Jak3 (55). Thus, it is also difficult to correlate
the consequences of deleting this S region with actions of a single
PTK. Moreover, since T cells from Syk
/
mice exhibit a
relatively normal IL-2 response (48), the role of Syk in
IL-2 signaling remains an open question. Our results indicated that Syk
clearly could influence STAT activation via an action possibly mediated
by a receptor other than the IL-2R. Interestingly, like Lck, Syk is
activated by TCR and BCR occupancy (49), and so it too may
influence STAT activation by a non-IL-2-mediated mechanism.
In conclusion, we have provided functional and biochemical evidence
pertaining to the interactions of Jak1, Jak3, Lck, and Syk in IL-2
signaling with a focus on STAT activation. Our data favor a model for
PTK activation in IL-2 signaling in which Jak3 is dependent on neither
Syk nor Lck for its activation of STATs (Fig. 7). Lck activation is not
dependent on Jak3; it may be viewed as functioning in parallel with
Jak3. Lck clearly can contribute to the absolute level of STAT
activation but does not mediate IL-2-induced phosphorylation and
activation. Indeed, it is also possible that the contribution is via a
receptor other than the IL-2R. Syk activation appears to be dependent
on Jak3, and Jak3 probably regulates Syk kinase indirectly via
activation of Jak1. However, Syk is not required for IL-2-induced STAT
activation. The target genes dependent on Lck and Syk have been
hitherto inferred from studies of receptor mutants. These mutants
however, disrupt the ability to activate not only these specific
kinases but other kinases and pathways as well. Therefore, it will be
essential to define the key downstream substrates of each kinase in
order to understand the distinct contributions of these molecules in mediating the effects of IL-2.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank L. E. Samelson, R. Pine, and A. C. Larner for
providing useful reagents. We thank Y. Minami, T. Taniguchi, and R. Visconti for critically reading the manuscript. We are grateful to
B. J. Fowlkes, J. Rivera, M. Aringer, and C. Sudarshan for technical assistance.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: ARB/NIAMS/NIH,
10/9N228, 10 Center Dr., MSC 1820, Bethesda, MD 20892-1820. Phone:
(301) 496-2541. Fax: (301) 402-0012. E-mail:
zhouy{at}exchange.nih.gov.
 |
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Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2000, p. 4371-4380, Vol. 20, No. 12
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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