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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2004, p. 5677-5686, Vol. 24, No. 13
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.13.5677-5686.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10021
Received 13 December 2003/ Returned for modification 6 February 2004/ Accepted 6 March 2004
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The most studied survival signaling pathway involves the activation of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase (PI3K), which generates PI-3,4,5-tris phosphate (PIP3). PIP3 production results in the recruitment and activation of Akt, a kinase that phosphorylates several key proteins that regulate apoptosis (46). Recently, another phospholipid-modifying enzyme has been implicated in the generation of survival signals. This enzyme is phospholipase D (PLD), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidic acid (PA) and choline (10). There are two PLD isoforms, PLD1 and PLD2 (9, 17), and both have been implicated in mitogenic signaling (13). PLD activity is elevated in response to platelet-derived growth factor (36), fibroblast growth factor (32), epidermal growth factor (EGF) (42), insulin (26), insulin-like growth factor 1 (3), growth hormone (51), and sphingosine 1-phosphate (2). PLD activity is also elevated in cells transformed by a variety of transforming oncogenes including v-Src (41), v-Ras (21, 22), v-Fps (23), and v-Raf (14). PLD activity was also able to induce a transformed phenotype in cells with elevated expression of a tyrosine kinase (24, 29). Both PLD1 and PLD2 have been reported to induce anchorage-independent growth and enhance cell cycle progression of mouse fibroblasts (1, 31). PLD activity prevented cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in cells with overexpressed Raf (25). PLD also prevented apoptosis in cells transformed by v-Src and in the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line (50). PLD activity also overcame apoptosis induced by H2O2 (34) and glutamate (27). Thus, an emerging role for PLD in the control of cell proliferation is to provide a survival signal that allows cells to avoid apoptosis under conditions of stress or inappropriate mitogenic signals (13).
It was previously reported that PLD1 cooperated with c-Src to transform 3Y1 rat fibroblasts (29). PLD1 also protected 3Y1 cells overexpressing c-Src from apoptosis (50), indicating that PLD1 generates a survival signal in these cells. The ability of PLD1 to cooperate with a tyrosine kinase such as c-Src is similar to the ability of simian virus 40 T antigen to cooperate with Ras to transform human cells (16). T antigen contributes to transformation by down-regulating the cell cycle checkpoint proteins Rb and p53 (35). Thus, it is possible that PLD1 might similarly regulate control of cell cycle checkpoint proteins.
In this report, we describe studies of the effect of PLD activity upon p53 stabilization. We have taken advantage of the ability of 3Y1 cells overexpressing c-Src to tolerate elevated expression of PLD1 to demonstrate that PLD elevates basal MDM2 levels and suppresses DNA damage-induced increases in the stabilization of p53. The data provide evidence that the survival signals generated by PLD are mediated, at least in part, by suppression of p53 stabilization.
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Materials. Generation of the monoclonal antibodies raised against p53 (pAb240 and pAb421) was described previously (4). Antibodies against Akt, phosphorylated Akt (Ser473), S6 kinase, phosphorylated S6 kinase (Thr389), mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, phosphorylated MAP kinase (Thr202/Tyr204), and poly(ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP) were from Cell Signaling Technology. Antibodies against MDM2, HDM2, p21, actin, and tubulin were from Santa Cruz Biotechnology. Antibodies to PLD1 and PLD2 were from Upstate Biotechnology. For nonimmune controls, we used ChromPure rabbit or mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) from Jackson ImmunoResearch. Rapamycin and cycloheximide (CHX) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich. U0126, PD98059, and LY294002 were obtained from Cell Signaling Technology. Camptothecin (CPT) and adriamycin (ADR) were obtained from Calbiochem.
Western blot analysis. Samples were adjusted into gel-loading buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl [pH 6.8], 100 mM dithiothreitol, 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 0.1% bromophenol blue, 10% glycerol) and then heated for 5 min at 100°C prior to separation by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. After samples were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes (Osmonics), membrane filters were blocked with 5% nonfat dry milk in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with 0.05% Tween 20 and then incubated with the appropriate antibody diluted in 5% nonfat dry milk in PBS with 0.05% Tween 20. Depending upon the origin of the primary antibodies, either anti-mouse or anti-rabbit IgG conjugated with horseradish peroxidase was used, and the bands were visualized by using an enhanced chemiluminescence detection system (Pierce).
Immunoprecipitation. Cells were washed twice with ice-cold PBS and scraped into the modified radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 1% Igepal CA-630, 0.25% sodium deoxycholate, 150 mM NaCl, 10 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM Na3VO4, 1 mM NaF, and 1x protease inhibitor cocktail, consisting of 0.5 mM AEBSF [4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonyl fluoride], 1 µM leupeptin, 0.15 µM aprotinin, and 1 µM protease inhibitor E-64. The cells were then incubated at 4°C for 25 min by gentle rocking, sonicated for 20 s on ice, and centrifuged at 12,000 x g at 4°C for 10 min. The supernatant was precleared with protein G-Sepharose 4 Fast Flow beads (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech), and 500 µg of the precleared proteins was adjusted to 500 µl in the modified RIPA buffer and then incubated with the antibody for 1 h as described above. The immunocomplex was captured by incubation with 50 µl of protein G-Sepharose 4 Fast Flow bead slurry and collected by centrifugation at 12,000 x g for 20 s at 4°C. The beads were washed three times with the modified RIPA buffer and once with wash buffer (50 mM Tris [pH 7.6]), and subjected to Western blot analysis.
Assay of PLD activity. PLD activity was determined by a transphosphatidylation reaction in the presence of 0.8% butanol as described previously (29). Cells in 100-mm culture dishes were prelabeled with [3H]myristate for 4 to 5 h in DMEM containing 0.5% bovine serum. Lipids were extracted and characterized by thin-layer chromatography. Relative levels of PLD activity were then determined by measuring the intensity of the corresponding phosphatidylbutanol band in the autoradiograph with a Molecular Dynamics scanning densitometer and Image-Quant software.
Cell viability assays. Cell viability was determined by trypan blue exclusion. After various treatments, cells were collected, washed, and treated with trypan blue at a concentration of 0.4% (wt/vol). After 10 min, trypan blue uptake (dead cells) was determined by counting on a hemocytometer.
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FIG. 1. Conditional expression of PLD1 in 3Y1c-Src cells. The construction of 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells was described previously (24). PLD1 protein levels in the 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were determined in the presence and absence of PonA (10 µM, 20 h), as indicated, by Western blot analysis with an anti-PLD1 antibody (upper panel). Aliquots from these cells were also analyzed for PLD activity as described in Materials and Methods. The PLD activity values were normalized to untreated 3Y1c-Src cells. Error bars represent the standard deviation for triplicate samples from a representative experiment that was repeated two times.
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FIG. 2. Elevated expression of PLD1 suppresses DNA damage-induced apoptosis. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were pretreated with PonA for 16 h. CPT was then added where indicated, and cell viability was examined 20 h later. The percentage of nonviable cells was determined by the uptake of trypan blue. Error bars represent the standard deviation for the average of data from three independent experiments. (B) Cell lysates from 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells prepared as described above were examined for the proteolytically cleaved PARP fragment (Cl. PARP) by Western blot analysis with an anti-PARP antibody. The data shown are representative of results obtained at least three times.
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FIG. 3. Elevated expression of PLD1 suppresses DNA damage-induced increases in the level of p53 in cells where PLD provides survival signals. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells grown in DMEM with 10% bovine calf serum were treated with 5 µM CPT or 0.3 µM ADR for 4 h. The cells were then collected, and lysates were analyzed for p53 protein levels by using Western blot analysis with an anti-p53 antibody. Where indicated, PonA (10 µM) was added for 16 h prior tothe addition of CPT and ADR to increase the expression of PLD1 as described previously (24). (B) 3Y1 and 3Y1-P1 cells were treated with CPT, ADR, and PonA, and p53 levels were determined as described above. (C) MCF-7 cells stably transfected with pcDNA3.1()-PLD2 or the parental pcDNA3.1() vector were treated with either CPT or ADR, and p53 levels were determined as described above. (D) The relative levels of PLD2 protein determined by Western blot and PLD activity in the MCF-7 cells stably expressing PLD2 and transfected with the parental empty vector are shown. The data shown are representative of results obtained at least three times.
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It has recently been found that elevated PLD activity can provide a survival signal in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells (7). We therefore examined the effect of CPT and ADR on p53 levels in MCF-7 cells and in MCF-7 cells that stably express PLD2. PLD2 was used in these cells rather than PLD1 because, as described previously (7), PLD2 expression is tolerated by the MCF-7 cells better than PLD1. As shown in Fig. 3C, the ability of both CPT and ADR to increase the level of p53 was substantially reduced in MCF-7 cells that stably express PLD2 relative to the parental MCF-7 cells. The levels of PLD activity and PLD2 protein in the MCF-7 cells expressing PLD2 and MCF-7 cells transfected with the parental expression vector are shown in Fig. 3D. These data indicate that the effects of PLD upon p53 induction are not restricted to the 3Y1 cells with elevated expression of c-Src. The data also indicate that the ability of PLD to suppress induction of p53 may be restricted to cellular contexts where PLD is able to provide a survival signal.
We next examined whether the effect of PLD upon DNA damage-induced p53 was also reflected at the level of p53-targeted gene expression. A well-established transcriptional target of p53 is the cyclin kinase inhibitor p21 (12). As shown in Fig. 4, DNA damage-induced increases in p21 were similarly suppressed in the 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells and further suppressed by the addition of PonA. These data further support the observation that elevated PLD activity suppresses DNA damage-induced increases in p53 levels and also argue that the p53 in these cells is wild type and capable of activating downstream p53 transcriptional targets (Fig. 3A).
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FIG. 4. Elevated expression of PLD1 suppresses DNA damage-induced increases of the level of p21. 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells grown in DMEM with 10% bovine calf serum were treated with 5 µM CPT or 0.3 µM ADR for 4 h. The cells were then collected, and lysates were analyzed for p21 protein levels by using Western blot analysis with an anti-p21 antibody. Where indicated, PonA (10 µM) was added for 16 h prior to the addition of CPT and ADR to increase the expression of PLD1 as described previously (24). The data shown are representative of results obtained twice.
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FIG. 5. Elevated PLD activity accelerates degradation of p53. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with 5 µM CPT where indicated for 1 h. At this time, CHX (80 µg/ml) was added, and the cells were harvested at the indicated times. Where indicated, PonA (10 µM) was added for 16 h prior to the addition of CPT. Lysates were analyzed by Western blotting with anti-p53 antibody and, as a control, antitubulin antibody. (B) The results from the p53 data were analyzed by densitometer analysis, and the p53 levels normalized to the CPT-induced levels in the absence of CHX (zero time point) were determined. (C) MCF-7 cells and MCF-7 cells stably expressing PLD2 weretreated with CHX as described above, and the levels of p53 were determined at the indicated times. (D) Densitometer analysis of the data in panel C is shown. The data shown are representative of results obtained three times.
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FIG. 6. Elevated expression of PLD1 increases basal MDM2 levels and inhibits DNA damage-induced decreases in MDM2. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were pretreated with PonA (10 µM) for 16 h where indicated, and the cells were then lysed and analyzed by Western blot analysis with an anti-MDM2 antibody. In the right panel, 3Y1c-Src cells were transiently transfected with pCGN-PLD1 and the parental pCGN vector as indicated. MDM2 and PLD1 protein levels were determined by Western blot analysis. (B) 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were pretreated with PonA where indicated, as described above. CPT (5 µM) or ADR (0.3 µM) was then added for 4 h where indicated, and lysates were examined for MDM2 expression as described above. (C) HDM2 expression levels were determined in MCF-7 cells and MCF-7 cells stably expressing PLD2 as described above. (D) Lysates from 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were immunoprecipitated (IP) by using a mouse monoclonal p53 antibody. The p53 immunoprecipitates were then subjected to Western blot (WB) analysis with antibodies raised against HDM2 and p53 as indicated. A nonimmune immunoglobulin control immunoprecipitate (IgG) is shown, as is a portion of whole-cell lysate (Lys) that was not subjected to immunoprecipitation. The amount run on the gel was 4% of that used in the immunoprecipitates. PonA, where indicated, was included as described above. The data shown are representative of results obtained at least three times.
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FIG. 7. Elevated expression of PLD1 increases the half-life of MDM2. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with CHX (80 µg/ml), and the cells were harvested at the indicated times. Where indicated, PonA (10 µM) was added for 16 h prior to the addition of CHX. Lysates were analyzed by Western blotting with anti-MDM2 antibody and, as a control, antitubulin antibody. (B) The levels of MDM2 were determined by densitometer analysis and normalized to the level of MDM2 in the absence of CHX (zero time point). The data shown are representative of results obtained twice.
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FIG. 8. PLD1-induced suppression of p53 and increases in MDM2 are reversed by inhibitors of MAP kinase and mTOR. (A) 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with CPT and PonA (Fig. 2A). Where indicated, U0126 (20 µM) and rapamycin (300 nM) were added 2 h prior to PonA treatment. Cells were then lysed and analyzed for the levels of p53 and actin by using Western blot analysis. (B) 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with PonA as described above. Where indicated, U0126 (20 µM) and rapamycin (300 nM) were added 2 h prior to PonA treatment. Cells were then lysed and analyzed for the levels of MDM2 and actin by using Western blot analysis. (C) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with PonA and rapamycin as indicated, as described above. Cell lysates were prepared, and the levels of S6 kinase (p70S6K) and phosphorylated S6 kinase (P-p70S6K) were determined by Western blot analysis with antibodies raised against p70S6K and p70S6K phosphorylated at Thr389. (D) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with PonA and U0126 as described above. Cell lysates were prepared, and the levels of MAP kinase (MAPK) and phosphorylated MAPK (P-MAPK) were determined by Western blot analysis with antibodies raised against MAPK and MAPK phosphorylated at Thr202/Tyr204. All of the data shown are representative of results obtained at least three times.
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FIG. 9. PLD1 suppression of DNA damage-induced apoptosis is reversed by inhibitors of MAP kinase and mTOR. (A) 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were pretreated as indicated with PonA (16 h), and CPT was then added where indicated. U0126 (20 µM) and rapamycin (300 nM) were added 2 h prior to PonA treatment where indicated. Cell viability was then examined 20 h later. The percentage of nonviable cells and PARP cleavage were determined (Fig. 2). Error bars represent the standard deviation for the average of data from three independent experiments. The PARP cleavage data are representative of results obtained three times.
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FIG. 10. Elevated PLD activity does not stimulate the PI3K/Akt survival pathway, but basal PI3K activity is required for maximum stimulation of MDM2. (A) 3Y1c-Src and 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with PonA (Fig. 1). Cell lysates were prepared, and the levels of Akt and phosphorylated Akt (P-Akt) were determined by Western blot analysis with antibodies raised against Akt and Akt phosphorylated at Ser473. (B) 3Y1c-Src-P1 cells were treated with PonA and LY294002 (20 µM) as indicated. The LY294002 was added at the same time as the PonA 20 h prior to the preparation of cell lysates. The cell lysates were then subjected to Western blot analysis with the indicated antibodies (Fig. 7). The data shown are representative of results obtained at least two times.
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FIG. 11. Schematic model for suppression of p53 stabilization by PLD. It is proposed that the ability of PLD to suppress p53 expression is mediated by increasing the expression of the E3 ubiquitin ligase MDM2. The increased expression of MDM2 is dependent upon PLD1-induced increases in both mTOR and the Raf/MEK/MAP kinase cascade. Both mTOR (7, 11) and Raf (15, 38) have been reported to directly interact with and be affected by PA. PLD has also been reported to be required for endocytosis of the EGF receptor (40), and endocytosis of activated MEK has been reported to be required for the activation of MAP kinase (28, 40). Thus, it is proposed that PLD is required for the activation of both MAP kinase and mTOR, which work synergistically to elevate MDM2 and suppress p53 stabilization. Basal levels of PI3K activity and Akt are also partially required for elevated expression of MDM2, although PLD activity does not lead to increased Akt phosphorylation.
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A role for MAP kinase in the suppression of p53 stabilization is consistent with a previous report by Ries et al. (37), who showed that oncogenic Ras suppressed p53 levels via MAP kinase. As shown here, elevated PLD activity led to increased phosphorylation of MAP kinase, and the PLD suppression of p53 stabilization was dependent upon MAP kinase. The activation of MAP kinase by PLD is likely to be indirect through the enhancement of receptor endocytosis. It was previously demonstrated that the activation of MAP kinase in response to EGF requires receptor endocytosis (28, 45), and endocytosis of the EGF receptor and MAP kinase activation were both dependent upon PLD activity (40). Importantly, elevated PLD activity increased basal levels of receptor endocytosis in the absence of EGF (40). The proposed complex stimulation of MAP kinase by PLD is also reflected in Fig. 11.
It was previously proposed that survival signals generated by either PLD or PI3K represented alternative survival pathways that were related by a dependence upon PI-4,5-bisphosphate, a cofactor for PLD and a substrate for PI3K (13). The two pathways are also related in that they both target mTOR (6, 39). The evidence presented here, that elevated PLD activity does not elevate Akt phosphorylation, is consistent with this hypothesis in that PLD activity does not activate the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. However, interestingly, the elevation of MDM2 by PLD was partially inhibited by inhibiting basal PI3K activity, indicating a linkage between the PLD and PI3K survival pathways. PLD-induced suppression of p53 stabilization was sensitive to rapamycin, implicating mTOR as a target of PLD. Although PLD can apparently stimulate mTOR without increasing Akt phosphorylation (6, 7, 11), there appears to be a requirement for a basal level of Akt activity since the inhibition of PI3K led to a partial inhibition of the PLD-induced increases in the level of MDM2. Inhibition of PI3K completely inhibited the phosphorylation of p70S6 kinase. Thus, the effect of inhibiting PI3K is likely due to an Akt requirement for the activation of mTOR. These data further suggest a link between the PLD and PI3K/Akt survival pathways in that both appear to target mTOR. There appears to be an Akt requirement for PLD survival signals, and there is also likely a PLD requirement for PI3K/Akt signals through mTOR since mTOR has a requirement for PLD-generated PA (6, 11).
The ability of PLD to suppress p53 stabilization can explain, at least in part, the ability of PLD to suppress apoptosis (25, 50) and to cooperate with tyrosine kinases to transform cells (24, 29). Tyrosine kinase activity is commonly elevated in a variety of human cancers, especially breast cancer, where there is elevated expression of tyrosine kinases such as the EGF receptor, Her2/Neu, and c-Src (5). Interestingly, elevated expression of PLD1 has been reported to be common in breast cancer tissues (33, 43). PLD activity has also been reported to be elevated in renal and gastric cancers (44, 48), and a polymorphism of the PLD2 gene was recently reported to be associated with the prevalence of colorectal cancer (47). Those reports suggest that elevated PLD activity may be providing a survival signal in these cancers. The data provided here reveal that PLD can suppress the level of a tumor suppressor that has been implicated in as much as 50% of human cancers. Elevated levels of MDM2 have also been reported in a substantial number of human cancers (reviewed by Chene [8]). Data presented here indicate that elevated PLD activity may be responsible for the presence of high levels of MDM2 in some of these cancers. The finding of elevated PLD activity in virtually all cancer types where it has been investigated, combined with the observation that PLD is able to provide survival signals in cancerous or transformed cells (50), suggests that elevated PLD activity in cancer cells is important for their survival. The ability of PLD to increase MDM2 and suppress p53 stabilization provides strong support for this hypothesis.
This work was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA46677) and a SCORE grant from the National Institutes of Health (GM60654). We also acknowledge Research Centers in Minority Institutions award RR-03037 from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health, which supports infrastructure and instrumentation for the Biological Sciences Department at Hunter College.
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on both transformation and phospholipase D activity mediated by the EGF receptor. Mol. Cell. Biol. 19:7672-7680.
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