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Biomedical subjects

G Panayotou

Publications and source records attributed to G Panayotou.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Purification and characterization of a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase complex from bovine brain by using phosphopeptide affinity columns.

Specific phosphorylated tyrosine residues in the kinase insert region of the human platelet-derived-growth-factor beta-receptor mediate the formation of multienzyme complexes with this receptor. When phosphorylated, tyrosine residue 751 within the kinase insert region mediates binding of PtdIns 3-kinase to this receptor. A 17-amino-acid peptide containing this tyrosine residue was synthesized, phosphorylated by using epidermal-growth-factor receptor and then coupled to an Actigel matrix. The tyrosine-751 phosphopeptide column is used here as a final affinity step in the purification of the PtdIns 3-kinase from bovine brain to apparent homogeneity. The active resin-bound PtdIns 3-kinase is composed of two polypeptides, p110 and p85, which are elutable with SDS-containing buffers and detectable by silver staining of polyacrylamide gels. The 85 kDa protein is shown to be identical with the recently cloned p85 alpha. Phosphotyrosine is demonstrated to be an essential part of the structure required for binding of both of these proteins and PtdIns 3-kinase activity to this peptide. The active PtdIns 3-kinase complex from bovine brain, but not recombinant p85 subunits, shows specificity for binding to phosphopeptides containing a YXXM consensus sequence. Neither PtdIns 3-kinase activity, nor the complex of p85 and 110 kDa proteins, binds to several other phosphopeptide affinity columns lacking this sequence motif. The selectivity of binding of baculovirus-expressed free p85 alpha subunit of bovine brain PtdIns 3-kinase, the closely related protein p85 beta and purified bovine brain PtdIns 3-kinase to these and other phosphopeptide columns is examined.

Amino Acid Sequence

Expression and characterization of the p85 subunit of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase complex and a related p85 beta protein by using the baculovirus expression system.

PtdIns 3-kinase associates with certain activated protein-tyrosine kinase receptors and with the pp60c-src/polyoma middle-T complex, suggesting that the enzyme is involved in growth regulation. The purified PtdIns 3-kinase appears to have two subunits, of 85 kDa and 110 kDa. Structural analysis at protein and cDNA levels revealed two forms of the 85 kDa subunit, one which associates with PtdIns 3-kinase activity termed p85 alpha, and a protein of unknown function, p85 beta. Both 85 kDa proteins contain src-homology regions 2 and 3 (SH2 and SH3), but lack enzymic activity, suggesting that they may be regulatory subunits of PtdIns 3-kinase. To probe their structure and function further, p85 alpha and p85 beta have been expressed and purified in large amounts from insect cells by using baculovirus vectors. Specific antisera detect p85 alpha, but not p85 beta, associated with PtdIns 3-kinase activity in various cell types. Co-expression studies in insect cells have shown that p85 alpha and p85 beta are substrates for the protein-tyrosine kinases of epidermal growth factor, colony-stimulating factor 1 and c-erbB2 receptors and the src family kinase p59c-fyn. Both p85 alpha and p85 beta form tight complexes with these protein-tyrosine kinases as measured by immunoprecipitation and kinase assays in vitro. The specificity of binding of free p85 is less restricted than that of p85 in the active PtdIns 3-kinase complex with the 110 kDa protein. The relevance of these results to growth-factor-induced PtdIns 3-kinase activation is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence

Tenascin: a modulator of cell growth.

The large, multidomain extracellular matrix protein tenascin displays a markedly restricted tissue distribution during embryogenesis and remains present only in a few adult tissues. The protein is reexpressed, however, during wound healing and in the stroma of malignant tumours. While a variety of studies have dealt with the important role of tenascin in the development of neural and non-neural tissues, there is growing evidence that tenascin expression may be associated with proliferation of cells lining these tissues. The presence of repeating domains in tenascin similar to those in epidermal growth factor prompted us to investigate the ability of tenascin to modulate the growth of different cell types. Tenascin was actually found to be mitogenic for several cell types. This mitogenic activity, however, appears to be associated with a region in the fibronectin type III domains. The mitogenic mechanism is clearly distinct from pathways used by peptide growth factors such as epidermal growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor, which activate the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity of their cell-surface receptors. However, we show that this large extracellular matrix molecule is efficiently internalised and may be processed by responding cells.

3T3 Cells

Structure of an SH2 domain of the p85 alpha subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase.

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinases, through phosphorylation of specific tyrosine residues, generate high-affinity binding sites which direct assembly of multienzyme signalling complexes. Many of these signalling proteins, including phospholipase C gamma, GTPase-activating protein and phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase, contain src-homology 2 (SH2) domains, which bind with high affinity and specificity to tyrosine-phosphorylated sequences. The critical role played by SH2 domains in signalling has been highlighted by recent studies showing that mutation of specific phosphorylation sites on the platelet-derived growth factor receptor impair its association with phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase, preventing growth factor-induced mitogenesis. Here we report the solution structure of an isolated SH2 domain from the 85K regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase, determined using multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The structure is characterized by a central region of beta-sheet flanked by two alpha-helices, with a highly flexible loop close to functionally important residues previously identified by site-directed mutagenesis.

Animals

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase: structure and expression of the 110 kd catalytic subunit.

Purified bovine brain phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (Pl3-kinase) is composed of 85 kd and 110 kd subunits. The 85 kd subunit (p85 alpha) lacks Pl3-kinase activity and acts as an adaptor, coupling the 110 kd subunit (p110) to activated protein tyrosine kinases. Here the characterization of the p110 subunit is presented. cDNA cloning reveals p110 to be a 1068 aa protein related to Vps34p, a S. cerevisiae protein involved in the sorting of proteins to the vacuole. p110 expressed in insect cells possesses Pl3-kinase activity and associates with p85 alpha into an active p85 alpha-p110 complex that binds the activated colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor. p110 expressed in COS-1 cells is catalytically active only when complexed with p85 alpha.

Amino Acid Sequence

Interaction of the p85 subunit of PI 3-kinase and its N-terminal SH2 domain with a PDGF receptor phosphorylation site: structural features and analysis of conformational changes.

Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to investigate the structure of the p85 alpha subunit of the PI 3-kinase, a closely related p85 beta protein, and a recombinant SH2 domain-containing fragment of p85 alpha. Significant spectral changes, indicative of a conformational change, were observed on formation of a complex with a 17 residue peptide containing a phosphorylated tyrosine residue. The sequence of this peptide is identical to the sequence surrounding Tyr751 in the kinase-insert region of the platelet-derived growth factor beta-receptor (beta PDGFR). The rotational correlation times measured by fluorescence anisotropy decay indicated that phosphopeptide binding changed the shape of the SH2 domain-containing fragment. The CD and fluorescence spectroscopy data support the secondary structure prediction based on sequence analysis and provide evidence for flexible linker regions between the various domains of the p85 proteins. The significance of these results for SH2 domain-containing proteins is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence

SH2 domains of the p85 alpha subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase regulate binding to growth factor receptors.

The binding of cytoplasmic signaling proteins such as phospholipase C-gamma 1 and Ras GTPase-activating protein to autophosphorylated growth factor receptors is directed by their noncatalytic Src homology region 2 (SH2) domains. The p85 alpha regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase, which associates with several receptor protein-tyrosine kinases, also contains two SH2 domains. Both p85 alpha SH2 domains, when expressed individually as fusion proteins in bacteria, bound stably to the activated beta receptor for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Complex formation required PDGF stimulation and was dependent on receptor tyrosine kinase activity. The bacterial p85 alpha SH2 domains recognized activated beta PDGF receptor which had been immobilized on a filter, indicating that SH2 domains contact autophosphorylated receptors directly. Several receptor tyrosine kinases within the PDGF receptor subfamily, including the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor and the Steel factor receptor (Kit), also associate with PI 3-kinase in vivo. Bacterially expressed SH2 domains derived from the p85 alpha subunit of PI 3-kinase bound in vitro to the activated colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor and to Kit. We infer that the SH2 domains of p85 alpha bind to high-affinity sites on these receptors, whose creation is dependent on receptor autophosphorylation. The SH2 domains of p85 are therefore primarily responsible for the binding of PI 3-kinase to activated growth factor receptors.

Animals

Characterization of two 85 kd proteins that associate with receptor tyrosine kinases, middle-T/pp60c-src complexes, and PI3-kinase.

Affinity-purified bovine brain phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) contains two major proteins of 85 and 110 kd. Amino acid sequence analysis and cDNA cloning reveals two related 85 kd proteins (p85 alpha and p85 beta), which both contain one SH3 and two SH2 regions (src homology regions). When expressed, these 85 kd proteins bind to and are substrates for tyrosine-phosphorylated receptor kinases and the polyoma virus middle-T antigen/pp60c-src complex, but lack PI3-kinase activity. However, an antiserum raised against p85 beta immunoprecipitates PI3-kinase activity. The active PI3-kinase complex containing p85 alpha or p85 beta and the 110 kd protein binds to PDGF but not EGF receptors. p85 alpha and p85 beta may mediate specific PI3-kinase interactions with a subset of tyrosine kinases.

Animals

EGF promotes in vivo tumorigenic growth of primary chicken embryo fibroblasts expressing v-myc and enhances in vitro transformation by the v-erbA oncogene.

We report that the activation of the endogenous chicken EGF receptor leads to the tumorigenic growth in vivo of early passage chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) that express a nonsarcomagenic oncogene, v-myc. To provide a continuous paracrine source of this growth factor in vivo, we employed irradiated Rat-1 cells which had been stably transfected with a synthetic cDNA to human EGF. Expression of another non-sarcomagenic nuclear oncogene, v-erbA, prones the CEFs to in vitro transformation by EGF, but does not cause EGF dependent tumorigenicity in vivo. The short period of incubation in the in vivo assay employed by our study (10 days), together with the genetic stability of primary chicken embryo fibroblasts, make it very likely that the reported alterations in cellular behaviour are a direct and primary effect of the expression of the relevant oncogenes and their cooperation with the EGF induced response. Dose response and ligand binding assays suggest that the EGF response is transmitted via the chicken c-erbB molecule, which by virtue of its preference for TGF-alfa is distinct from the mammalian EGF receptors studied so far. The level of expression of the endogenous chicken EGF receptor is within the same range as that reported for primary human fibroblasts (5-7 x 10(3) per cell). The cooperative effect of v-myc with chicken c-erbB probably takes place at a post receptor level, as its expression did not affect the steady state level or affinity for ligand of the chicken EGF receptor.

Animals

Domains of laminin with growth-factor activity.

Laminin and fragments (1, 1-4) containing the inner rod-like segments from its short arms, which consist of cysteine-rich, "EGF-like" repeats, stimulated thymidine incorporation in cultured cells possessing EGF receptors but had no effect on a cell line lacking this receptor. The response was comparable to that of EGF concerning effective concentrations, magnitude, time dependence, and synergistic enhancement by insulin. Other fragments (4 and 8) were inactive. Laminin and its active fragments could not compete with the binding of EGF to cells. There was no correlation between growth promotion and attachment of cells to a high affinity binding site present on laminin fragment 8. The data indicate that mitogenic effects induced by laminin and EGF proceed in some steps via related pathways and that different domains of laminin are involved in growth promotion and in adhesion and spreading of cells.

Amino Acid Sequence

Structural basis for epidermal growth factor receptor function.

The receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF) has been the subject of intense study primarily as a consequence of the pioneering studies of Cohen on growth factors and also because of its homology to the transforming protein encoded by the avian oncogene v-erbB, which is a truncated receptor and its consequent role in cancer. Although similar structural mutation of the EGF receptor has not yet been found in human tumours, aberrant overexpression of both EGF receptors and c-erbB2, a closely related putative receptor, have been found to occur in squamous cell carcinomas and glial tumours, and mammary carcinomas respectively. In addition to EGF, the related polypeptides transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) and vaccinia virus growth factor are also ligands for the EGF receptor. Expression of TGF alpha occurs during embryonal development and in specific adult tissues; it may also play a role in cellular transformation These important properties, as well as the potential roles of both TGF alpha and EGF in wound repair, have emphasized the need to understand EGF receptor structure, function and regulation. This review discusses the structural properties of the EGF receptor and how these can be related to receptor function and regulation.

Amino Acid Sequence

Cellular distribution of three mammalian Ca2+-binding proteins related to Torpedo calelectrin.

Addition of Ca2+ to post-microsomal fractions of bovine adrenal or liver produced a sedimentable complex of membrane vesicles and cytoplasmic proteins. Proteins with apparent mol. wts. 70 000, 36 000 and 32 500 were solubilized from this complex by Ca2+ chelation. The 36 000 mol. wt. protein (p36) was immunoprecipitated by an antiserum specific for pp36, a major substrate for Rous sarcoma virus src-gene tyrosine kinase. This protein was present in many mesenchymal cells and associated with membrane cytoskeleton of bovine fibroblasts in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The 70 000 and 32 500 mol. wt. proteins were widely distributed in established cell lines, but were not clearly associated with cell organelles in tissue sections, nor retained in cytoskeleton preparations. On immunoblots p36 reacted strongly with antibodies produced against the electric fish protein Torpedo calelectrin and the similar Ca2+-binding properties and subunit mol. wts. of these proteins suggests that they might be functionally related. Since Torpedo calelectrin, p70, p36 and p32.5 were bound by lipid vesicles or microsomal membranes at micromolar free Ca2+ concentrations, regulated association with intrinsic membrane components may be involved in the functions of these widespread proteins.

Adrenal Medulla