ABSTRACT
Although transcriptional activation of the c-fos proto-oncogene plays an intrinsic role in the mechanism of blood cell growth, it is still obscure how protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs) regulate the cytokine-driven c-fos activation pathway. We present here that Tec PTK is tyrosine-phosphorylated and activated by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulation in a human GM-CSF-dependent cell line. Moreover, we could show that introduction of Tec into mouse BA/F3-hGMRalphabeta cells can profoundly activate the c-fos promoter in response to GM-CSF or to interleukin-3 (IL-3). In contrast, introduction of a kinase-deleted Tec could suppress cytokine-driven c-fos activation, indicating that Tec is directly involved in the regulation of c-fos transcription. Interestingly, strong activation by Tec of the c-fos promoter was blocked by the co-expression of dominant negative Jak2. The molecular interaction between Tec and Jak2 was then investigated both in mammalian and insect cell systems, revealing that they can not only bind to each other, but either of the two can phosphorylate the other. Thus, Tec and Jak2 can "cross-talk" in a complexed way to mediate cytokine-driven c-fos activation.
Subject(s)
Genes, fos/genetics , Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor/pharmacology , Interleukin-3/pharmacology , Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins , Transcription, Genetic , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Baculoviridae/genetics , Cell Line , Gene Expression , Genes, ras , Humans , Janus Kinase 2 , Mice , Phosphorylation , Phosphotyrosine/analysis , Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/chemistry , Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/genetics , Proto-Oncogene Mas , Receptors, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor/physiology , Recombinant Proteins , Signal Transduction , Spodoptera/enzymologyABSTRACT
Tec is the prototype of a recently emerging subfamily among nonreceptor type protein-tyrosine kinases and is known to become tyrosine-phosphorylated and activated by a wide range of cytokine stimulations in hematopoietic cells. Although Tec was recently shown to be involved in the cytokine-driven activation mechanism of c-fos transcription, it is yet obscure how Tec relays the signals from cell surface receptors to the nucleus. To identify signaling molecules acting downstream of Tec, we have looked for Tec-interacting proteins (TIPs) by using the yeast two-hybrid system. Here we report the identification and characterization of a novel protein, TIP3, which has been simultaneously identified by other groups as SOCS-1, JAB, or SSI-1. TIP3 carries one Src homology 2 domain with a sequence similarity to that of CIS. In 293 cells, TIP3 associates with Tec and suppresses its kinase activity. Interestingly, TIP3 can also down-regulate the activity of Jak2 but not that of Lyn. We propose that SOCS-1/JAB/SSI-1/TIP3 is a novel type of negative regulator to a subset of protein-tyrosine kinases.