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HSP27 and signaling to the actin cytoskeleton Focus on "HSP27 expression regulates CCK-induced changes of the actin cytoskeleton in CHO-CCK-A cells"

Curtis T. Okamoto

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1921


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DIVERSE CELLULAR PROCESSES such as cell migration, cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion, phagocytosis, cytokinesis, secretion, endocytosis, and bacterial invasion depend on actin-based motility. For most of these processes, an extracellular signal must be transduced either by or to the actin cytoskeleton. Some of these transducers are relatives of well-characterized signaling modules. For example, recent attention has been focused on the small ras-like GTPases, Rho, Rac, and Cdc42, as regulators of actin-based motility (24). Another member of the family of small GTPases, ADP-ribosylation factor 6, and its exchange factor may regulate the actin cytoskeleton at the plasma membrane (5, 6). In addition, some signals to the cytoskeleton are transduced by the products of phosphatidylinositol metabolism (17). With respect to the effectors, the apparent targets of the signal transduction cascade would be proteins that regulate the polymerization, depolymerization, anchoring, or bundling of actin microfilaments.

In the current article in focus, Schäfer et al. (Ref. 22, see page C1032 in this issue) present data that characterize an alternate signal transduction cascade involving the gastrointestinal hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), its cell surface receptor, and the modulation of the actin cytoskeleton. They used a heterologous expression system, a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line stably transfected with the G protein-coupled CCK-A receptor, to characterize further the effectors downstream of CCK-A receptor stimulation. In previous work, Groblewski et al. (8) showed that stimulation of pancreatic acinar cells by CCK results in activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-activated protein kinase 2, which in turn phosphorylates the small heat shock protein HSP27, a chaperone protein. Subsequently, Schäfer et al. were able to show in acinar cells that CCK stimulates p38 MAPK (which is upstream of MAPK-activated protein kinase 2), resulting in HSP27 phosphorylation and changes in the actin cytoskeleton (23). In this new study, Schäfer et al. were able to recapitulate in the transfected CHO cells the CCK-stimulated p38 MAPK signaling cascade down to the phosphorylation of HSP27 and were able to use CCK-induced morphological changes in the actin cytoskeleton as the "readout." They found that stimulation of the CCK-A receptor resulted in dose-dependent changes in the actin cytoskeleton, activation of p38 MAPK, and phosphorylation of HSP27. Overexpression of either wild-type HSP27 or a mutated form of HSP27 that apparently mimics the phosphorylated form of HSP27 in CCK-A receptor-expressing CHO cells resulted in modulation of the response of the actin cytoskeleton to CCK stimulation; cells overexpressing mutated forms of HSP27 that cannot be phosphorylated did not acquire this phenotype. Thus these data provided a direct demonstration of the link between phosphorylated HSP27 and the response of the actin cytoskeleton to the CCK-p38 MAPK signaling pathway. They were also able to show that the diphosphorylated form of HSP27 is the form that regulates its effector function relative to the CHO cell cytoskeleton. Overall, the Schäfer study is another significant contribution to the burgeoning field of the characterization of the action of HSP27 on the actin cytoskeleton. To date, several studies in other systems have shown separately that HSP27 is phosphorylated by the p38 MAPK pathway (1, 14) or that phosphorylated HSP27 regulates the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton (15, 16, 25, 27, 28). However, the current work by Schäfer et al. and their previous study (23) are two of the few studies (9, 10, 12) that link the stimulation of a cell surface receptor to the p38 MAPK pathway, with the consequent phosphorylation of HSP27 and its modulation of the actin cytoskeleton.

The results of Schäfer et al. are also significant in understanding the action of CCK on its target cells in vivo and suggest that CCK-induced signaling to the actin cytoskeleton via p38 MAPK and HSP27 may be a common pathway in cells expressing the CCK receptor. A major function of CCK in vivo is to stimulate exocytosis from pancreatic acinar cells by activation of a signaling cascade that is initiated by the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+. Perhaps in the alternate, but simultaneously activated p38 MAPK pathway, activated HSP27 may modulate the actin cytoskeleton to facilitate some aspect of the zymogen granule secretory cycle, from the transport and/or fusion of zymogen granules to the endocytic reuptake of zymogen granule membrane from the plasma membrane. Several other secretory cells have shown a dependence on the actin cytoskeleton to facilitate exocytosis (3, 20, 26). In addition, endocytosis has been shown to depend on the actin cytoskeleton (3, 7, 13, 26). It would be of interest to determine whether, in general, HSP27 plays a role in these plasma membrane-associated trafficking events via its cytoskeletal effector function. In addition to stimulation of exocrine pancreatic acinar cells, CCK stimulates gallbladder contractility and gastrointestinal smooth muscle motility. With respect to smooth muscle function, a recent report has shown that the activation of the p38 MAPK pathway in cultured tracheal myocytes by platelet-derived growth factor, interleukin-1beta , or transforming growth factor-beta results in the phosphorylation of HSP27 and stimulation of cell migration (10).

In identifying several key events in the CCK-stimulated pathway to the actin cytoskeleton, this study by Schäfer et al. has also opened the door to several new questions. First, the small GTPases Rac and Cdc42 have been shown to be upstream of p38 MAPK (2, 18, 27). It will be of interest to identify the upstream components in the CCK-stimulated signaling cascade that leads to the activation of p38 MAPK and HSP27. Second, with respect to cytoskeletal remodeling, HSP27 has been shown in vitro to have actin "barbed end" capping activity (19), suggesting that it may act stoichiometrically to regulate actin microfilaments. However, it is not yet clear whether HSP27 in vivo is acting either stoichiometrically or catalytically or both. As speculation, for a putative catalytic function, HSP27 may activate other cytoskeletal effector proteins via its chaperone activity, much in the way that HSP90 is considered to be a chaperone for proteins in signal transduction pathways (11). Third, there appear to be differences in the types of cytoskeletal changes induced by the activation of HSP27; these differences may be cell type specific and depend on the levels of HSP27 expression. These issues will be important to resolve in future studies. Fourth, like many G protein-coupled receptors, ligand binding stimulates the endocytosis of the CCK-A receptor as a first step in desensitization and downregulation (21). Recently, endocytosis and postendocytotic trafficking have been shown to regulate signaling to the ras-dependent MAPK pathway by the beta 2-adrenergic receptor (4). It may be worthwhile to entertain the possibility that the CCK-A receptor may modulate its own endocytosis and postendocytotic trafficking by localized regulation of the cortical actin cytoskeleton via p38 MAPK and HSP27. In summary, the p38 MAPK/HSP27 pathway appears to be an exciting new pathway bridging the gap between cellular stimulation by an extracellular cue and its dynamic response through actin-based motility.


    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Grant DK-51588.


    FOOTNOTES

Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: C. T. Okamoto, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90080-9121 (E-mail: cokamoto{at}hsc.usc.edu).


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Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 277(6):C1029-C1031
0002-9513/99 $5.00 Copyright © 1999 the American Physiological Society




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