scholarly journals Par-4 Is an Essential Downstream Target of DAP-like Kinase (Dlk) in Dlk/Par-4–mediated Apoptosis

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 4010-4020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Boosen ◽  
Susanne Vetterkind ◽  
Jan Kubicek ◽  
Karl-Heinz Scheidtmann ◽  
Susanne Illenberger ◽  
...  

Prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4) was initially identified as a gene product up-regulated in prostate cancer cells undergoing apoptosis. In rat fibroblasts, coexpression of Par-4 and its interaction partner DAP-like kinase (Dlk, which is also known as zipper-interacting protein kinase [ZIPK]) induces relocation of the kinase from the nucleus to the actin filament system, followed by extensive myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation and induction of apoptosis. Our analyses show that the synergistic proapoptotic effect of Dlk/Par-4 complexes is abrogated when either Dlk/Par-4 interaction or Dlk kinase activity is impaired. In vitro phosphorylation assays employing Dlk and Par-4 phosphorylation mutants carrying alanine substitutions for residues S154, T155, S220, or S249, respectively, identified T155 as the major Par-4 phosphorylation site of Dlk. Coexpression experiments in REF52.2 cells revealed that phosphorylation of Par-4 at T155 by Dlk was essential for apoptosis induction in vivo. In the presence of the Par-4 T155A mutant Dlk was partially recruited to actin filaments but resided mainly in the nucleus. Consequently, apoptosis was not induced in Dlk/Par-4 T155A–expressing cells. In vivo phosphorylation of Par-4 at T155 was demonstrated with a phospho-specific Par-4 antibody. Our results demonstrate that Dlk-mediated phosphorylation of Par-4 at T155 is a crucial event in Dlk/Par-4-induced apoptosis.

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huidan Deng ◽  
Atsushi Ikeda ◽  
Hengmin Cui ◽  
John D. Bartlett ◽  
Maiko Suzuki

Fluoride overexposure is an environmental health hazard and can cause enamel and skeletal fluorosis. Previously we demonstrated that fluoride increased acetylated-p53 and its downstream target p21 in ameloblast-derived LS8 cells. However, p21 function in fluoride toxicity is not well characterized. This study seeks to gain a better understanding of how p53 down-stream mediators, p21 and MDM2, respond to fluoride toxicity. LS8 cells were treated with NaF with/without MG-132 (proteasome inhibitor) or Nutlin-3a (MDM2 antagonist). NaF treatment for 2–6 h increased phospho-p21, which can inhibit apoptosis. However, phospho-p21 and p21 were decreased by NaF at 24 h, even though p21 mRNA was significantly increased at this time point. MG-132 reversed the fluoride-mediated p21 decrease, indicating that fluoride facilitates p21 proteasomal degradation. MG-132 suppressed fluoride-induced caspase-3 cleavage, suggesting that the proteasome plays a pro-apoptotic role in fluoride toxicity. NaF increased phospho-MDM2 in vitro and in mouse ameloblasts in vivo. Nutlin-3a suppressed NaF-mediated MDM2-p21 binding to reverse p21 degradation which increased phospho-p21. This suppressed apoptosis after 24 h NaF treatment. These results suggest that MDM2-mediated p21 proteasomal degradation with subsequent phospho-p21 attenuation contributes to fluoride-induced apoptosis. Inhibition of MDM2-mediated p21 degradation may be a potential therapeutic target to mitigate fluoride toxicity.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 4843-4854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Ruffner ◽  
Wei Jiang ◽  
A. Grey Craig ◽  
Tony Hunter ◽  
Inder M. Verma

ABSTRACT BRCA1 is a cell cycle-regulated nuclear protein that is phosphorylated mainly on serine and to a lesser extent on threonine residues. Changes in phosphorylation occur in response to cell cycle progression and DNA damage. Specifically, BRCA1 undergoes hyperphosphorylation during late G1 and S phases of the cell cycle. Here we report that BRCA1 is phosphorylated in vivo at serine 1497 (S1497), which is part of a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) consensus site. S1497 can be phosphorylated in vitro by CDK2-cyclin A or E. BRCA1 coimmunoprecipitates with an endogenous serine-threonine protein kinase activity that phosphorylates S1497 in vitro. This cellular kinase activity is sensitive to transfection of a dominant negative form of CDK2 as well as the application of the CDK inhibitors p21 and butyrolactone I but not p16. Furthermore, BRCA1 coimmunoprecipitates with CDK2 and cyclin A. These results suggest that the endogenous kinase activity is composed of CDK2-cyclin complexes, at least in part, concordant with the G1/S-specific increase in BRCA1 phosphorylation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 5409-5418 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Mischak ◽  
T Seitz ◽  
P Janosch ◽  
M Eulitz ◽  
H Steen ◽  
...  

The elevation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels in the cell downregulates the activity of the Raf-1 kinase. It has been suggested that this effect is due to the activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), which can directly phosphorylate Raf-1 in vitro. In this study, we confirmed this hypothesis by coexpressing Raf-1 with the constitutively active catalytic subunit of PKA, which could fully reproduce the inhibition previously achieved by cAMP. PKA-phosphorylated Raf-1 exhibits a reduced affinity for GTP-loaded Ras as well as impaired catalytic activity. As the binding to GTP-loaded Ras induces Raf-1 activation in the cell, we examined which mechanism is required for PKA-mediated Raf-1 inhibition in vivo. A Raf-1 point mutant (RafR89L), which is unable to bind Ras, as well as the isolated Raf-1 kinase domain were still fully susceptible to inhibition by PKA, demonstrating that the phosphorylation of the Raf-1 kinase suffices for inhibition. By the use of mass spectroscopy and point mutants, PKA phosphorylation site was mapped to a single site in the Raf-1 kinase domain, serine 621. Replacement of serine 621 by alanine or cysteine or destruction of the PKA consensus motif by changing arginine 618 resulted in the loss of catalytic activity. Notably, a mutation of serine 619 to alanine did not significantly affect kinase activity or regulation by activators or PKA. Changing serine 621 to aspartic acid yielded a Raf-1 protein which, when expressed to high levels in Sf-9 insect cells, retained a very low inducible kinase activity that was resistant to PKA downregulation. The purified Raf-1 kinase domain displayed slow autophosphorylation of serine 621, which correlated with a decrease in catalytic function. The Raf-1 kinase domain activated by tyrosine phosphorylation could be downregulated by PKA. Specific removal of the phosphate residue at serine 621 reactivated the catalytic activity. These results are most consistent with a dual role of serine 621. On the one hand, serine 621 appears essential for catalytic activity; on the other hand, it serves as a phosphorylation site which confers negative regulation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 800-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Yang ◽  
C H Herrmann ◽  
R B Arlinghaus ◽  
B Singh

We investigated the effect of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA ) on v-Mos kinase activity. Increase in PKA activity in vivo brought about either by forskolin treatment or by overexpression of PKA catalytic subunit resulted in a significant inhibition of v-Mos kinase activity. The purified PKA catalytic subunit was able to phosphorylate recombinant p37v-mos in vitro, suggesting that the mechanism of in vivo inhibition of v-Mos kinase involves direct phosphorylation by PKA. Combined tryptic phosphopeptide two-dimensional mapping analysis and in vitro mutagenesis studies indicated that Ser-56 is the major in vivo phosphorylation site on v-Mos. In vivo phosphorylation at Ser-56 correlated with slower migration of the v-Mos protein during sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. However, even though Ser-56 was phosphorylated by PKA, this phosphorylation was not involved in the inhibition of v-Mos kinase. The alanine-for-serine substitution at residue 56 did not affect the ability of v-Mos to autophosphorylate in vitro or, more importantly, to activate MEK1 in transformed NIH 3T3 cells. We identified Ser-263 phosphorylation, the Ala-263 mutant of v-Mos was not inhibited by forskolin treatment. From our results, we propose that the known inhibitory role of PKA in the initiation of oocyte maturation in mice could be explained at least in part by its inhibition of Mos kinase.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (14) ◽  
pp. 6205-6214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baolin Zhang ◽  
Yaqin Zhang ◽  
Emily Shacter

ABSTRACT The small GTPase Rac1 has emerged as an important regulator of cell survival and apoptosis, but the mechanisms involved are not completely understood. In this report, constitutively active Rac1 is shown to stimulate the phosphorylation of the Bcl-2 family member Bad, thereby suppressing drug-induced caspase activation and apoptosis in human lymphoma cells. Rac1 activation leads to human Bad phosphorylation specifically at serine-75 (corresponding to murine serine-112) both in vivo and in vitro. Inhibition of constitutive and activated Rac1-induced Bad phosphorylation by a cell-permeable competitive peptide inhibitor representing this Bad phosphorylation site sensitizes lymphoma cells to drug-induced apoptosis. The data show further that endogenous protein kinase A is a primary catalyst of cellular Bad phosphorylation in response to Rac activation, while Akt is not involved. These findings define a mechanism by which active Rac1 promotes lymphoma cell survival and inhibits apoptosis in response to cancer chemotherapy drugs.


2002 ◽  
Vol 367 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra ARESTA ◽  
Marie-France de TAND-HEIM ◽  
Florence BÉRANGER ◽  
Jean de GUNZBURG

Gem is a Ras-related protein whose expression is induced in several cell types upon activation by extracellular stimuli. With the aim of isolating the cellular partners of Gem that mediate its biological activity we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen and identified a novel protein of 970 amino acids, Gmip, that interacts with Gem through its N-terminal half, and presents a cysteine-rich domain followed by a Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) domain in its C-terminal half. The RhoGAP domain of Gmip stimulates in vitro the GTPase activity of RhoA, but is inactive towards other Rho family proteins such as Rac1 and Cdc42; it is also specific for RhoA in vivo. The same is true for the full-length protein, which is furthermore able to down-regulate RhoA-dependent stress fibres in Ref-52 rat fibroblasts. These findings suggest that the signalling pathways controlled by two proteins of the Ras superfamily, RhoA and Gem, are linked via the action of the RhoGAP protein Gmip (Gem-interacting protein).


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 030006052110374
Author(s):  
Hai-Peng Fan ◽  
Zhi-Xia Zhu ◽  
Jia-Jun Xu ◽  
Yu-Tang Li ◽  
Chun-Wen Guo ◽  
...  

Objective This study aimed to clarify the mechanism by which the long non-coding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 9 (CASC9) alleviates sepsis-related acute kidney injury (S-AKI). Methods A lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced AKI model was established to simulate S-AKI. HK-2 human renal tubular epithelial cells were treated with LPS to establish an in vitro model, and mice were intraperitoneally injected with LPS to generate an in vivo model. Subsequently, the mRNA expression of inflammatory and antioxidant factors was validated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was assessed using an assay kit. Apoptosis was detected by western blotting and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Results CASC9 was significantly downregulated in the LPS-induced AKI model. CASC9 attenuated cell inflammation and apoptosis and enhanced the antioxidant capacity of cells. Regarding the mechanism, miR-424-5p was identified as the downstream target of CASC9, and the interaction between CASC9 and miR-424-5p promoted thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) expression. Conclusions CASC9 alleviates LPS-induced AKI in vivo and in vitro, and CASC9 directly targets miR-424-5p and further promotes the expression of TXNIP. We have provided a possible reference strategy for the treatment of S-AKI.


1993 ◽  
Vol 90 (23) ◽  
pp. 10947-10951 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Huang ◽  
A Alessandrini ◽  
C M Crews ◽  
R L Erikson

Recombinant Mek1 and Raf-1 proteins produced in Sf9 cells undergo a tight association both in vivo and in vitro, which apparently does not depend on additional factors or the kinase activity of Mek1 or Raf-1. The complex can be disrupted by two polyclonal antibodies raised against Raf-1 peptides. Coinfection with Raf-1 activates Mek1 > 150-fold, and coinfection with Raf-1 and Mek1 activates Erk1 approximately 90-fold. The activation of Mek1 by Raf-1 involves only serine phosphorylation, which is directly proportional to the extent of Mek1 activation. Phosphopeptide maps suggest a single Raf-1 phosphorylation site on mek1.


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