(Received for publication, September 5, 1996, and in revised form, October 11, 1996)
From the Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands and the § Departments of Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
The growth hormone receptor (GHR) is a ubiquitinated cell surface protein. Ligand binding and receptor dimerization activate the cytosolic kinase Jak2. This event initiates signal transduction via STAT proteins. Expression of GHR in a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line, which exhibits a temperature-sensitive defect in ubiquitin conjugation (CHO-ts20), as well as in wild type cells (CHO-E36) has shown that endocytosis of the receptor requires an intact ubiquitin conjugation system (Strous G. J., van Kerkhof, P., Govers, R., Ciechanover A., and Schwartz, A. L. (1996) EMBO J. 15, 3806-3812). We have now examined the requirement for ubiquitin conjugation in growth factor-mediated signal transduction. In CHO-E36 and in CHO-ts20 cells at the permissive temperature, STAT proteins were activated in a growth factor-dependent fashion. However, no activation of STAT proteins was observed at the nonpermissive temperature in CHO-ts20 cells. Neither tyrosine phosphorylation of GHR nor of Jak2 was inhibited at the nonpermissive temperature. When tyrosine phosphorylation was inhibited following treatment with staurosporin, ubiquitination of the receptor proceeded normally. Furthermore, mutation of GHR phenylalanine-327, which prevents GHR endocytosis, inhibited receptor ubiquitination but allowed normal Jak/STAT-mediated signal transduction. Thus, these data provide evidence that the ubiquitin conjugation system is involved in the Jak/STAT signaling pathway, be it not at the initial stage(s) of Jak2 activity.
Binding of growth hormone (GH)1 to its receptor causes dimerization of two growth hormone receptor (GHR) polypeptides, which in turn initiates a cascade of events leading to signal transduction in the cell nucleus and down-regulation of the receptor (1, 2). Lacking intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity, the GHR recruits and activates a member of the Janus family of cytosolic kinases (Jak2) upon dimerization (3). In addition to the GHR polypeptides and itself, Jak2 phosphorylates special signal transducers and activators of transcription proteins (STATs), which translocate to the nucleus and convey the appropriate signal to specific regulatory DNA-responsive elements (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
The ubiquitin system has been established as the major regulatory protein degradation system within eukaryotic cells (9, 10, 11, 12). Proteins destined for degradation are covalently modified by conjugation of multiple ubiquitin polypeptides following recognition and modification by members of the E2 (ubiquitin conjugating) and E3 (ligating) protein families. Recently, the ubiquitin conjugation system has been shown to play a role in other regulatory functions such as control of protein kinase activity (13) and receptor endocytosis (14, 15). An intact ubiquitin conjugation system is required for prompt ligand-induced GHR endocytosis and degradation (15). Many other cell surface receptors are ubiquitinated upon ligand binding (16, 17, 18, 19, 20), although their dependence upon ubiquitin conjugation for endocytosis has not been addressed. As signal transduction and down-regulation of most cell surface signaling receptors are tightly coupled, we have examined the role of the ubiquitin conjugation system in GHR signal transduction.
We have utilized GHR-transfected CHO-ts20 cells that express a thermolabile ubiquitin activating enzyme, E1 (21). At the nonpermissive temperature ligand-induced endocytosis of the GHR is blocked in these cells (15). Herein, we report that although GH-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of GHR and Jak2 at the cell surface is not affected at the nonpermissive temperature, the Jak2/STAT signaling pathway is completely inhibited.
Cell lines derived from CHO-ts20 and
CHO-E36 cells, stably transfected with rabbit GHR-cDNA, were used (15).
The GHR-F327A mutant was prepared by inserting a polymerase chain
reaction product using a 5-oligonucleotide, containing a Pfl1 site
(GATCCCACCCATTGGCCTCAACTGGACTTT) and a 3
-oligonucleotide containing a
ClaI site and a TTC
GCC mutation (F
A)
(GATCCATCGATGTCTAGCTCGATGGCTTCA). The DNA sequence was confirmed for
the entire polymerase chain reaction fragment. Cells were grown in
Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with 4.5 g/liter
glucose, 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin, and streptomycin, and 0.4 mg/ml geneticin. For experiments the cells were grown on 35-mm plates
and used at 75% confluence. The CHO-ts20 clone used in this study
expressed approximately 10-fold more receptor than the CHO-E36 clone.
To compensate for this, 10 mM sodium butyrate was added to
CHO-E36 cells 18 h before use, increasing GHR expression
approximately 5-fold (15). As before, the sodium butyrate treatment did
not alter the behavior of GHR in any of the parameters examined in this
study. Anti-GHR antiserum was raised in rabbits against a fusion
protein of glutathione S-transferase and a GHR tail peptide
consisting of amino acids 327-493 (15). The fusion protein was
expressed in Escherichia coli after transformation with the
appropriate pGEX-2T DNA construct (Pharmacia Biotech Inc.). Anti-PY and
rabbit anti-mouse STAT3 were from Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. (Lake
Placid, NY), and anti-ISGF3 (monoclonal antibody against the N-terminal
194 amino acid sequence of STAT1) from Transduction Labs (Lexington,
KY). Antiserum against Jak2 was raised in rabbits against a synthetic
peptide corresponding to the hinge region between domains 1 and 2 of
murine Jak2. Antiserum specific for ubiquitin-protein conjugates was a
gift of Dr. A. Ciechanover (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,
Haifa, Israel). GH was a gift of Lilly Research Labs (Indianapolis,
IN).
The cells were lysed on ice in 0.3 ml of lysis mix containing 1% Triton X-100, 2 mM Na3VO4, 1 mM EDTA, 10 µg/ml aprotinin, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride in PBS. In ubiquitin blotting experiments the cells were lysed in 0.3 ml of boiling lysis buffer containing 1% SDS in PBS in order to minimize isopeptidase activity. The lysate was heated at 100 °C for 5 min, sheared to break DNA, and centrifuged for 5 min at 10,000 × g. Immunoprecipitations were carried out in 1% Triton X-100, 0.5% SDS, 0.25% sodium deoxycholate, 0.5% bovine serum albumin, 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM Na3VO4, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, 10 µg/ml aprotinin, and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride in PBS. The reactions were incubated for 2 h at 0 °C with 5 µl of specific rabbit anti-GHR antiserum; protein A-agarose (Repligen Co., Cambridge, MA) was used to isolate the immune complexes. The immunoprecipitates were washed twice with the same buffer and once with 10-fold diluted PBS; immune complexes were analyzed by 7.5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of SDS.
After transfer to polyvinylidene difluoride paper, the blots were immunostained using anti-ubiquitin conjugate antibody, anti-GHR (after stripping of the blots), and anti-PY (15). The antigens were visualized using the ECL system (Amersham Corp.).
Transcription Factor Complexation AssaysEither total cell
lysates or nuclear extracts from 2 × 108 cells were
incubated with a 32P-labeled oligonucleotide known as the
c-sis-inducible element (SIE) of the c-fos gene
promoter as described (22, 23). To prepare radiolabeled SIE two
oligonucleotides were synthesized (5-GTCGACATTTCCCGTAAATCGTCGA-3
and
5
-TCGACGATTTACGG-3
) and hybridized, and the gap was filled using the
Klenow reaction in the presence of [
-32P]ATP and
unlabeled dCTP, dGTP, and dTTP. Transcription factor complex formation
and electrophoresis were performed as described (22).
In order to determine whether the ubiquitin conjugation system is
involved in signal transduction of the GHR, CHO-ts20, and CHO-E36 cells
stably transfected with GHR were incubated at the permissive (30 °C)
and nonpermissive (42 °C) temperatures, and the cell and nuclear
extracts were examined for GH-inducible band shifts using
32P-labeled SIE. As seen in Fig.
1A, GH induced a clear signal in CHO-E36
cells at both the permissive and nonpermissive temperatures and in
CHO-ts20 cells incubated at the permissive temperature. Closer
examination of the band pattern (Fig. 1B) reveals that the
specific signal is composed of three bands (a, b,
and c). If excess unlabeled SIE was added, all three bands
disappeared (Fig. 1B, lanes 2 and 3);
if antibodies against STAT1 were present the two lower bands
disappeared and a new more slowly migrating complex became visible;
anti-STAT3 had no effect, probably because our antibody did not
interfere with STAT complex formation in CHO cells. These observations
together with data from literature indicate that the three-band pattern
represents homo- and heterodimers of STAT1 and STAT3 (5). In nuclear
extracts from CHO-E36 cells the lower band (Fig. 1B,
c) was lacking (Fig. 1A).
If CHO-ts20 cells were incubated at the nonpermissive temperature in the presence of GH, no STAT complexes were detectable. This observation was consistently made over a temperature range of 40-42 °C, and the STAT complex formation coincided fully with the capacity of the CHO-ts20 cells to activate ubiquitin. The weak signal at lower electrophoretic mobility in this lane did not disappear if the incubation was carried out in the presence of excess unlabeled probe. If CHO-ts20 cells were used transfected with a mutant DNA (GHR-F327A), the same results were obtained as with wild type GHR. No STAT complex was observed in these cells following incubation at the nonpermissive temperature in the presence of GH (Fig. 1C). Together, the data show that an intact ubiquitin conjugation system is necessary for GH-mediated Jak/STAT signaling.
The F327A mutation in the GHR was previously shown to affect ligand-induced endocytosis, not signal transduction (24). As seen in Fig. 1C, CHO-ts20 cells transfected with GHR-F327A DNA show normal signaling via STAT pathway upon GH addition at the permissive temperature. The mutated GHR in these cells is not ubiquitinated upon GH addition at the permissive temperature.2 Thus, although endocytosis and ubiquitination of the GHR were inhibited in the GHR-F327A mutant, Jak/STAT signal transduction occurred normally. This result also shows that ubiquitination of the receptor tail is not required for signal transduction.
Following dimerization of the GHR polypeptides, tyrosine
phosphorylation of both GHR and Jak2 is the initial event in the signaling cascade. Therefore, we examined whether an intact ubiquitin conjugation system is essential for this event. In all cases a substantial phosphotyrosine signal was observed on both the mature GHR
and Jak2 upon the addition of GH. In the case of Jak2 (Fig. 2, right panel) an extra diffuse and slower
migrating PY-labeled band is visible, most probably originating from
co-immunoprecipitation of GHR. A somewhat diminished PY signal was
observed in both GHR and Jak2 in CHO-ts20 and in CHO-E36 cells
following incubation at temperatures above 40 °C. Occasionally the
decrease in signal was more prominent in the CHO-ts20 than in CHO-E36
cells. This variability is likely due to
temperature-dependent activity of Jak2. Thus, it is
unlikely that the ubiquitin conjugating system is required for Jak2
recruitment nor for its action. We also examined the extent to which
the GHR-F327A mutant was phosphorylated in response to ligand. Both
receptor and Jak2 phosphorylation were similar to that observed with
the wild type receptor (not shown).
Because both GHR tyrosine phosphorylation and ubiquitination appear to
occur at the cell surface, it is important to determine whether the two
events are independent. Thus, to eliminate indirect effects of
phosphorylation on receptor ubiquitination, we utilized the
phosphokinase inhibitor staurosporin. As seen in Fig.
3, staurosporin inhibited the ligand-induced GHR
phosphorylation almost completely. However, the GH stimulation of GHR
ubiquitination was unaffected. Of note is that no PY signal is visible
at the position of ubiquitinated GHR (Fig. 3, middle panel),
indicating that ubiquitinated GHR is not phosphorylated. Taken together
with the results described above, we conclude that ubiquitin
conjugation and tyrosine phosphorylation of the GHR (and Jak2) are
independent events.
The ubiquitin conjugating system plays a pivotal role in a diverse array of regulatory events including cell cycle progression, DNA repair, and transcriptional control. Many of these processes are dependent upon both ubiquitin conjugation to target proteins as well as the subsequent degradation of the protein-ubiquitin moieties via the proteasome. In the present study we demonstrate that the ubiquitin conjugating system is involved in signal transduction via the Jak/STAT pathway. This pathway mediates transduction of a wide variety of extracellular signals via receptors for interferon, many cytokines, and GH (3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 25). Using cells that display an intact GH-GHR pathway yet contain a temperature-sensitive mutation in the initial enzyme of the ubiquitin conjugation pathway, we have demonstrated that inactivation of the ubiquitin pathway inhibits GH-induced stimulation the Jak/STAT pathway. Our data do not define at which stage(s) ubiquitin conjugation is involved in the signaling cascade, although the data render it unlikely that the initial steps that likely occur at the cell surface (receptor dimerization, Jak2 recruitment, and Jak2 activation) are affected by the ubiquitin system. Previously, we have shown that the ubiquitin system is involved in receptor endocytosis (15). These results together with the current data suggest that the cell surface is the likely site of GHR signaling. Dependent upon the GH concentration, temperature, and cell type, ligand-induced endocytosis of the GHR occurs with a half-time of 30-60 min (26, 27, 28). Tyrosine phosphorylation, however, occurs maximally within 15-20 min (Ref. 29 and Fig. 2). Because no phosphotyrosine-labeled GHR was found to be ubiquitinated and because the two events appear to be independent, it is tempting to speculate that phosphorylation and subsequently Jak/STAT transduction occur first, following which the receptor is subject to endocytosis mediated by the ubiquitin conjugation system.
As proposed for the role of ubiquitination in ligand-induced endocytosis of the GHR, ubiquitination in addition to protein phosphorylation may act as a control point in regulating some step(s) in the Jak/STAT signaling cascade. However, because many basic cellular processes are regulated subsequent to ubiquitin conjugation, use of the E1 mutant cell line at the nonpermissive temperature does not exclude the possibility that other E1-dependent events are critical in the control of this signaling pathway.
Recently, Allevato and colleagues (24) have reported that phenylalanine
346 within the rat GHR cytoplasmic tail is critical for ligand-induced
internalization but not essential for transcriptional control. We have
made the analogous mutation in the rabbit receptor, which results in
defective endocytosis as well as ubiquitination.2 These
results further support the notion that the ubiquitin conjugating system acts on the signaling pathway downstream from the tyrosine phosphorylating action of Jak2. Recently, Chen et al. (13)
have shown that the protein kinase involved in the activation of the transcription factor NFB depends on the presence and function of
several factors of the ubiquitin conjugation system. Thus, the
ubiquitin system appears to be involved in a variety of growth control
and signal transduction pathways. Future studies will focus on the
mechanism(s) involved in modulation of the Jak/STAT pathway by the
ubiquitin system.
We thank Dennis Lebbing for excellent technical assistance, Rachel Leckie for preparing the GHR-F327A DNA construct, Dr. Willem Stoorvogel for helpful discussions, Dr. Aaron Ciechanover for providing the anti-ubiquitin conjugate antiserum, and Dr. William Wood for the GHR cDNA.