Tyrosine phosphorylation of tau by the SRC family kinases lck and fyn.

BACKGROUND: Tau protein is the principal component of the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease, where it is hyperphosphorylated on serine and threonine residues, and recently phosphotyrosine has been demonstrated. The Src-family kinase Fyn has been linked circumstantially to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and shown to phosphorylate Tyr18. Recently another Src-family kinase, Lck, has been identified as a genetic risk factor for this disease. RESULTS: In this study we show that Lck is a tau kinase. In vitro, comparison of Lck and Fyn showed that while both kinases phosphorylated Tyr18 preferentially, Lck phosphorylated other tyrosines somewhat better than Fyn. In co-transfected COS-7 cells, mutating any one of the five tyrosines in tau to phenylalanine reduced the apparent level of tau tyrosine phosphorylation to 25-40% of that given by wild-type tau. Consistent with this, tau mutants with only one remaining tyrosine gave poor phosphorylation; however, Tyr18 was phosphorylated better than the others. CONCLUSIONS: Fyn and Lck have subtle differences in their properties as tau kinases, and the phosphorylation of tau is one mechanism by which the genetic risk associated with Lck might be expressed pathogenically.

Tyrosine 394 is phosphorylated in Alzheimer's paired helical filament tau and in fetal tau with c-Abl as the candidate tyrosine kinase.

Tau is a major microtubule-associated protein of axons and is also the principal component of the paired helical filaments (PHFs) that comprise the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. Besides phosphorylation of tau on serine and threonine residues in both normal tau and tau from neurofibrillary tangles, Tyr-18 was reported to be a site of phosphorylation by the Src-family kinase Fyn. We examined whether tyrosine residues other than Tyr-18 are phosphorylated in tau and whether other tyrosine kinases might phosphorylate tau. Using mass spectrometry, we positively identified phosphorylated Tyr-394 in PHF-tau from an Alzheimer brain and in human fetal brain tau. When wild-type human tau was transfected into fibroblasts or neuroblastoma cells, treatment with pervanadate caused tau to become phosphorylated on tyrosine by endogenous kinases. By replacing each of the five tyrosines in tau with phenylalanine, we identified Tyr-394 as the major site of tyrosine phosphorylation in tau. Tyrosine phosphorylation of tau was inhibited by PP2 (4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl-7-(t-butyl)pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine), which is known to inhibit Src-family kinases and c-Abl. Cotransfection of tau and kinases showed that Tyr-18 was the major site for Fyn phosphorylation, but Tyr-394 was the main residue for Abl. In vitro, Abl phosphorylated tau directly. Abl could be coprecipitated with tau and was present in pretangle neurons in brain sections from Alzheimer cases. These results show that phosphorylation of tau on Tyr-394 is a physiological event that is potentially part of a signal relay and suggest that Abl could have a pathogenic role in Alzheimer's disease.

The tyrosine phosphatase DEP-1 induces cytoskeletal rearrangements, aberrant cell-substratum interactions and a reduction in cell proliferation.

The receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase density-enhanced phosphatase-1 (DEP-1) has been implicated in aberrant cancer cell growth and immune cell function, however, its function within cells has yet to be properly elucidated. To investigate the cellular function of DEP-1, stable cell lines inducibly expressing DEP-1 were generated. Induction of DEP-1 expression was found to decrease PDGF-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of a number of cellular proteins including the PDGF receptor, and to inhibit growth factor-stimulated phosphorylation of components of the MAPK pathway, indicating that DEP-1 antagonised PDGF receptor signalling. This was supported by data showing that DEP-1 expression resulted in a reduction in cell proliferation. DEP-1-expressing cells had fewer actin-containing microfilament bundles, reduced vinculin and paxillin-containing adhesion plaques, and were defective in interactions with fibronectin. Defective cell-substratum adhesion correlated with lack of activation of FAK in DEP-1-expressing cells. Time-lapse interference reflection microscopy of live cells revealed that although small focal contacts at the leading edge were generated in DEP-1-expressing cells, they failed to mature into stable focal adhesions, as found in control cells. Further motility analysis revealed that DEP-1-expressing cells retained limited random motility, but showed no chemotaxis towards a gradient of PDGF. In addition, cell-cell contacts were disrupted, with a change in the localisation of cadherin from discrete areas of cell-cell contact to large areas of membrane interaction, and there was a parallel redistribution of beta-catenin. These results demonstrate that DEP-1 is a negative regulator of cell proliferation, cell-substratum contacts, motility and chemotaxis in fibroblasts.

Use of anti-platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 antibody in the control of disease progression in established collagen-induced arthritis in DBA/1J mice.

Platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) is expressed on the membrane of leukocytes and vascular endothelial cells. PECAM-1 has been shown to play an important role in the process of leukocyte transmigration in various animal models of acute inflammation. We investigated the role of PECAM-1 in the progression of arthritis by systemically administering anti-murine PECAM-1 monoclonal antibody, 2H8, to DBA/1J mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Subcutaneous administration of dexamethasone (0.5 mg/kg per 2 days) significantly reduced hindpaw swelling and the clinical score of established CIA. Intraperitoneal administration of 2H8 (0.25 mg/mouse per 2 days) significantly inhibited hindpaw swelling in a time-dependent manner. 2H8 also significantly prevented further deterioration in the clinical score, but failed to reverse joint destruction discernible at the histological level. Both dexamethasone and 2H8 inhibited body weight decrease by preventing the further development of arthritis. Histopathological assessment revealed that 2H8, as well as dexamethasone, inhibited inflammatory cell transmigration into the synovium of the hind paw joint and ameliorated synovitis and cartilage erosion. These results suggest that PECAM-1 plays an important role in the progression of CIA and that an inhibitor of PECAM-1 might have therapeutic value for clinical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of neuronal proteins including tau and focal adhesion kinase in response to amyloid-beta peptide exposure: involvement of Src family protein kinases.

The increased production of amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) in Alzheimer's disease is acknowledged to be a key pathogenic event. In this study, we examined the response of primary human and rat brain cortical cultures to Abeta administration and found a marked increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation content of numerous neuronal proteins, including tau and putative microtubule-associated protein 2c (MAP2c). We also found that paired helical filaments of aggregated and hyperphosphorylated tau are tyrosine phosphorylated, indicating that changes in the phosphotyrosine content of cytoplasmic proteins in response to Abeta are potentially an important process. Increased tyrosine phosphorylation of cytoskeletal and other neuronal proteins was specific to fibrillar Abeta(25-35) and Abeta(1-42). The tyrosine phosphorylation was blocked by addition of the Src family tyrosine kinase inhibitor 4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7(t-butyl)pyrazol(3,4-d)pyramide (PP2) and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY 294002. Tyrosine phosphorylation of tau and MAP2c was concomitant with an increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation and subsequent putative activation of the non-receptor kinase, focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Immunoprecipitation of Fyn, a member of the Src family, from Abeta(25-35)-treated neurons showed an increased association of Fyn with FAK. Abeta treatment of cells also stimulated the sustained activation of extracellular regulated kinase-2, which was blocked by addition of PP2 and LY 294002, suggesting that FAK/Fyn/PI3-kinase association is upstream of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling in Abeta-treated neurons. This cascade of signaling events contains the earliest biochemical changes in neurons to be described in response to Abeta exposure and may be critical for subsequent neurodegenerative changes.