ALBERT

Description: Early signal relay steps upon ligand binding to the receptor tyrosine kinase Flt3 (ie, sites of Flt3 autophosphorylation and subsequent docking partners) are mainly unresolved. By immunoprecipitation of specific tryptic peptides contained in the juxtamembrane region of human Flt3 and subsequent radiosequencing, we identified the tyrosine residues 572, 589, 591, and 599 as in vivo autophosphorylation sites. Focusing on Y589 and Y599, we examined Flt3 ligand (FL)-mediated responses in wild-type-Flt3-(WT-Flt3-), Y589F-Flt3-, and Y599F-Flt3-expressing 32D cells. Compared with WT-Flt3-32D cells upon ligand stimulation, 32D-Y589F-Flt3 showed enhanced Erk activation and proliferation/survival, whereas 32D-Y599F-Flt3 cells hereby displayed substantially diminished responses. Both pY589 and pY599 were identified as association sites for signal relay molecules including Src family kinases and SHP2. Consistently, 32D-Y589F-Flt3 and 32D-Y599F-Flt3 showed decreased FL-triggered activation of Src family kinases. Interference with the Src-dependent negative regulation of Flt3 signaling may account for the enhanced mitogenic response of Y589F-Flt3. Y599 was additionally found to interact with the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. As Y599F-Flt3-32D was unable to associate with and to phosphorylate SHP2 and since silencing of SHP2 in WT-Flt3-expressing cells mimicked the Y599F-Flt3 phenotype, we hypothesize that recruitment of SHP2 to pY599 contributes to FL-mediated Erk activation and proliferation.

Description: C-Kit belongs to the family of type III receptor tyrosine kinases and is mainly expressed in hematopoietic precursor cells. Binding of stem cell factor (Kit ligand) leads to receptor dimerization, activation of intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity and cross-autophosphorylation of receptor tyrosine residues which provide specific docking sites for molecules that transduce the signal further downstream. Signaling through c-Kit results in several different cellular responses, most of which are directly involved in growth control and survival. Negative regulation of the receptor activity is therefore of much importance concerning pathogenic processes such as tumorigenesis in which activated c-Kit often plays a role. Here we present data showing that the ubiquitin E3 ligase Cbl must be activated by the Src family kinases and recruited to c-Kit in order to trigger receptor degradation. We demonstrate that the autophosphorylation sites Y568 and Y936 in c-Kit, previously reported to be binding sites for APS, Src or Grb2, respectively, are involved in Cbl recruitment and activation, possibly in a direct manner. I571 and L939 of c-Kit hereby determine the specificity for binding the N-terminal tyrosine kinase binding domain of Cbl. We show that activation of Cbl by Src family kinase members on one hand and direct or indirect recruitment of active Cbl to the pY568/I571 and pY936/L939 motifs of c-Kit on the other, are separable events and are both necessary for Cbl-mediated c-Kit degradation. Consistently, both the Y568/570F double mutant lacking Src kinase activity and the I571A/L939A double mutant lacking Cbl-specific interaction sites fail to ubiquitinate and degrade c-Kit upon ligand stimulation in stably transfected PAE and Ba/F3 cells. Thus, we could reveal novel aspects of the dynamic process of docking and activating signaling molecules at receptor phosphotyrosines that negatively regulate c-Kit-mediated responses. Moreover, we demonstrate that Cbl mediates monoubiquitination of c-Kit and that the receptor subsequently is targeted for lysosomal degradation. Taken together, our findings reveal novel insights on how c-Kit -mediated signal transduction is negatively regulated by Cbl.

Description: Early signal relay steps upon ligand-binding to the receptor tyrosine kinase Flt3, i.e. sites of Flt3-autophosphorylation and subsequent docking partners, are mainly unresolved. Here we demonstrate for the first time identification of ligand-induced in vivo phosphorylation sites in Flt3. By immunoprecipitation of specific tryptic peptides contained in the juxtamembrane region of human Flt3 and subsequent radiosequencing we identified the tyrosine residues 572, 589, 591 and 599 as in vivo autophosphorylation sites. Focusing on Y589 and Y599, we examined Flt3-ligand-mediated responses in WT-Flt3, Y589F-Flt3 and Y599F-Flt3 expressing 32D cells. Compared to WT-Flt3-32D cells, 32D-Y589F-Flt3 showed upon ligand-stimulation enhanced Erk activation as well as proliferation/survival whereas 32D-Y599F-Flt3 cells displayed substantially diminished responses. Both pY589 and pY599 were identified as association sites for multiple signal relay molecules including Src family kinases. Consistently, 32D-Y589F-Flt3 and 32D-Y599F-Flt3 showed decreased FL-triggered Src activation, impaired phosphorylation of the adapter molecules Cbl and ShcA and deficient receptor ubiquitination and degradation. Interference with the Src-dependent negative regulation of Flt3 signaling may account for the enhanced mitogenic response of Y589F-Flt3. pY599 was additionally found to interact with the protein tyrosine phosphatase Shp2. As Y599F-Flt3-32D lacked ligand-induced Shp2 phosphorylation and since silencing of Shp2 in WT-Flt3-expressing cells mimicked the Y599F-Flt3-phenotype we hypothesize that recruitment of Shp2 to pY599 contributes to FL-mediated Erk activation and proliferation. To summarize, our work presents novel insights in Flt3-mediated signal transduction. We have identified the in vivo autophosphorylation sites of the juxtamembrane region of Flt3, revealed Src family kinases and Shp2 as binding partners of pY589 and/or pY599, respectively, as well as their potential impact on FL-mediated signaling in Flt3-32D cells. Future work will now focus on elucidation of additional and possibly novel interaction partners of the found phosphorylation sites by employing an unbiased proteomics approach. With this gained knowledge it will be of interest to see whether ITDs differing in the nature of the duplicated tyrosines also confer distinct signaling behavior. If so, these tyrosines might serve as a diagnostic marker and point towards a successful combinatorial therapy consisting of a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor and an inhibitor for the specifically affected signal transduction pathway.