Biomedical subjects

C Maroun

Publications and source records attributed to C Maroun.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Enhanced transformation by a plasma membrane-associated met oncoprotein: activation of a phosphoinositide 3'-kinase-dependent autocrine loop involving hyaluronic acid and CD44.

A Met-hepatocyte growth factor receptor oncoprotein, Tpr-Met, generated by chromosomal rearrangement, fuses a protein dimerization motif with the cytoplasmic domain of the Met receptor, producing a cytosolic, constitutively activated tyrosine kinase. Although both the Met receptor and the Tpr-Met oncoprotein associate with the same substrates, activating mutations of the Met receptor in hereditary papillary renal carcinomas have different signaling requirements for transformation than Tpr-Met. This suggests differential activation of membrane-localized pathways by oncogenic forms of the membrane-bound Met receptor but not by the cytoplasmic Tpr-Met oncoprotein. To establish which pathways might be differentially regulated, we have localized the constitutively activated Tpr-Met oncoprotein to the membrane using the c-src myristoylation signal. Membrane localization enhances cellular transformation, focus formation, and anchorage-independent growth and induces tumors with a distinct myxoid phenotype. This correlates with the induction of hyaluronic acid (HA) and the presence of a distinct form of its receptor, CD44. A pharmacological inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3' kinase (PI3'K), inhibits the production of HA, and conversely, an activated, plasma membrane-targeted form of PI3'K is sufficient to enhance HA production. Furthermore, the multisubstrate adapter protein Gab-1, which couples the Met receptor with PI3'K, enhances Met receptor-dependent HA synthesis in a PI3'K-dependent manner. These results provide a positive link to a role for HA and CD44 in Met receptor-mediated oncogenesis and implicate PI3'K in these events.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

PubMed1997

Association of the multisubstrate docking protein Gab1 with the hepatocyte growth factor receptor requires a functional Grb2 binding site involving tyrosine 1356.

Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor is a multifunctional factor that induces mitogenesis, motility, invasion, and branching tubulogenesis of several epithelial and endothelial cell lines in culture. The receptor for hepatocyte growth factor has been identified as the Met-tyrosine kinase. Upon stimulation with hepatocyte growth factor, the Met beta subunit becomes highly phosphorylated on tyrosine residues, one of which, tyrosine 1356 within the carboxyl terminus, is crucial for dissociation, motility, and branching tubule formation in Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells. Tyrosine 1356 forms a multisubstrate binding site for the Grb2 and Shc adaptor proteins, the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase, phospholipase Cgamma, and a phosphatase, SHP2. To investigate additional signaling molecules that are activated by the Met receptor, we have identified hepatocyte growth factor-induced phosphoproteins in tubular epithelial cells. We have established that proteins of 100-130 kDa are highly phosphorylated following stimulation of epithelial cells and that one of these is the Grb2-associated binding protein Gab1, a possible insulin receptor substrate-1-like signal transducer. We show that Gab1 is the major substrate for the Met kinase in vitro and in vivo. Association of Gab1 with Met requires a functional Grb2 binding site involving tyrosine 1356 and to a lesser extent tyrosine 1349. Met receptor mutants that fail to induce branching tubulogenesis are impaired in their ability to interact with Gab1, suggesting that Gab1 may play a role in these processes.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

PubMed1994

Child with Sotos phenotype and a 5:15 translocation.

We report on a 4-year-old girl with Sotos phenotype and a de novo balanced translocation between the long arms of chromosome 5 and chromosome 15 [46,XX,t(5,15)(q35;q22)]. We suggest a relationship between genetic material at 5q35 or 15q22 and the expression of an autosomal dominant gene.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

PubMed1991

Functional consequences of CD4-TCR/CD3 interactions.

The relative positions of CD4 and of the T cell receptor complex for antigen (TCR/CD3) determine whether signalling through the antigen receptor results in T cell growth. The following discussion focusses on those central observations which demonstrate that CD4 and the associated protein tyrosine kinase p56lck provide critical signals modulating the biological responses induced through the TCR/CD3 complex. Based on the available evidence, we suggest that antigen-mediated co-aggregation of CD4/Lck and TCR/CD3 is an obligate activation signal and that, in its absence, signalling through TCR alpha beta induces T cell death. The role of CD4 in self-non-self discrimination would therefore be critical and would provide a mechanism for the maintenance of peripheral T cell tolerance to non-major histocompatibility complex-related self-antigens.

Animals↗