Tyrosine 343 in the erythropoietin receptor positively regulates erythropoietin-induced cell proliferation and Stat5 activation.

While previous studies with truncated erythropoietin receptors (EpRs) have suggested that the tyrosine phosphorylation of the EpR does not play a role in Ep-induced proliferation, we have found, using a more subtle, full length EpR mutant, designated Null, in which all eight of the intracellular tyrosines have been substituted with phenylalanine residues, that Null cells require substantially more Ep than wild-type cells in order to proliferate as efficiently. A comparison of Ep-induced proliferation with Ep-induced tyrosine phosphorylation patterns, using wild-type and Null EpR-expressing cells, revealed that Stat5 tyrosine phosphorylation and activation correlated directly with proliferation. Moreover, studies with a Y343F EpR point mutant and various EpR deletion mutants revealed that both Ep-induced proliferation and Stat5 activation were mediated primarily through Y343, but that other tyrosines within the EpR could activate Stat5 in its absence.

Phosphorylation of tyrosine 503 in the erythropoietin receptor (EpR) is essential for binding the P85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase and for EpR-associated PI 3-kinase activity.

We recently reported that phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase becomes associated with the activated erythropoietin receptor (EpR), most likely through the Src homology 2 (SH2) domains within the p85 subunit of PI-3 kinase and one or more phosphorylated tyrosines within the EpR. We have now investigated this interaction in more detail and have found, based on both blotting studies with glutathione S-transferase-p85-SH2 fusion proteins and binding of these fusion proteins to SDS-denatured EpRs, that this binding is direct. Moreover, both in vitro competition studies, involving phosphorylated peptides corresponding to the amino acid sequences flanking the eight tyrosines within the intracellular domain of the EpR, and in vivo studies with mutant EpRs bearing tyrosine to phenylalanine substitutions, indicate that phosphorylation of Tyr503 within the EpR is essential for the binding of PI 3-kinase. The presence of PI 3-kinase activity in EpR immunoprecipitates from DA-3 cells infected with wild-type but not Y503F EpRs confirms this finding. Our results demonstrate that the SH2 domains of p85 can bind, in addition to their well established Tyr-Met/Val-X-Met consensus binding sequence, a Tyr-Val-Ala-Cys motif that is present in the EpR. A comparison of erythropoietin-induced tyrosine phosphorylations and proliferation of wild-type and Y503F EpR-infected DA-3 cells revealed no differences. However, the PI-3 kinase inhibitor, wortmannin, markedly inhibited the erythropoietin-induced proliferation of both cell types, suggesting that PI 3-kinase is activated in Y503F EpR expressing cells. This was confirmed by carrying out PI 3-kinase assays with anti-phosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates from erythropoietin-stimulated Y503F EpR-infected DA-3 cells and suggested that PI 3-kinase has a role in regulating erythropoietin-induced proliferation, but at a site distinct from the EpR.

Identification and characterization of an interleukin-3 receptor-associated 110-kDa serine/threonine kinase.

We recently reported that interleukin-3 (IL-3) stimulation of the murine IL-3-responsive cell line, B6SUtA1, results in the rapid phosphorylation of the beta subunit of the IL-3 receptor (IL-3R), not only on tyrosine residues but on serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) residues as well. Since this occurred even at 4 degrees C, it suggested that a Ser/Thr-specific kinase might be closely associated with the IL-3R. To test this possibility, IL-3R complexes were isolated with anti-IL-3R (alpha IL-3R) antibodies, and in vitro phosphorylation studies were undertaken. These revealed the presence of a 110-kDa protein that was heavily phosphorylated in vitro on serine and threonine residues and that bound selectively to gamma-ATP-Sepharose beads. Moreover, this protein, which was not the 110-kDa subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, was tyrosine phosphorylated in response to IL-3 and was specifically labeled in vitro with azido-[32P]ATP. These data, together with in vitro kinase inhibitor studies, suggest that an as yet uncharacterized H7- and staurosporine-sensitive 110-kDa Ser/Thr kinase may be constitutively associated with the IL-3R and activated following IL-3 stimulation. A comparison of IL-3R and erythropoietin receptor complexes suggests that this 110-kDa protein may be preferentially associated with the IL-3R.

Multiple cytokines stimulate the binding of a common 145-kilodalton protein to Shc at the Grb2 recognition site of Shc.

We recently reported that interleukin-3, Steel factor, and erythropoietin all induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2 in hemopoietic cell lines. We have now further characterized the proteins that become associated with Shc following stimulation with these cytokines and found that, in response to all three, the tyrosine-phosphorylated form of Shc binds to common 145- and 52-kDa proteins which also become tyrosine phosphorylated in response to these growth factors. The 145-kDa protein, which appears, from antiphosphotyrosine blots of two-dimensional O'Farrell gels, to exist in four different phosphorylation states following cytokine stimulation (with isoelectric points ranging from 7.2 to 7.8), does not appear to be immunologically related to the beta subunit of the interleukin-3 receptor, c-Kit, BCR, ABL, JAK1, JAK2, Sos1, eps15, or insulin receptor substrate 1 protein. Silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate gels indicate that the association of the 145-kDa protein with Shc occurs only after cytokine stimulation and that it can bind to the tyrosine-phosphorylated form of Shc in its non-tyrosine-phosphorylated state. The latter finding, in conjunction with the observations that p145 does not bind, in vitro, to the Src homology 2 (SH2) domain of Shc, that it is not present in anti-Grb2 immunoprecipitates, and that a phosphopeptide which blocks the binding of Shc to the SH2 domain of Grb2 also blocks the binding of Shc to p145, suggests that p145 contains an SH2 domain and competes with Grb2 for the same tyrosine-phosphorylated site on Shc. This implicates p145 as a potential regulator of Ras activity and, perhaps, of other as yet unidentified functions of Shc.

Steel factor stimulates the serine/threonine phosphorylation of the interleukin-3 receptor.

The murine interleukin-3 (IL-3) dependent cell line, B6SUtA1, which expresses high IL-3 receptor (IL-3R) numbers, was found to proliferate in a greater than additive fashion when grown in the presence of IL-3 and steel factor (SF). However, pretreatment of these cells with SF had no effect on the number of IL-3Rs expressed at the cell surface nor their affinity for IL-3. Interestingly, although, SF did induce the rapid and transient serine- and threonine-specific phosphorylation of the beta IL-3 subunit of the IL-3R. This serine/threonine phosphorylation was also observed with the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, and both the 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate- and SF-induced phosphorylation of the IL-3R could be inhibited with the highly specific protein kinase C inhibitor, bisindolylmaleimide (Compound 3), suggesting that SF might be stimulating this phosphorylation via protein kinase C. This SF-induced phosphorylation also occurred within 10 min of incubation at 4 degrees C, indicating that this might be a relatively early event in the c-kit signaling pathway. Last, this SF-induced phosphorylation of the IL-3R occurred in the presence of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, at levels which blocked the autophosphorylation of c-kit. This suggests that c-kit might be capable of mediating this cross-talk phenomenon in the absence of its endogenous tyrosine kinase activity.

Multiple cytokines induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2 in hemopoietic cells.

The identification and characterization of proteins that become tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to growth factor stimulation is critical to furthering our understanding of the signal transduction pathways involved in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. In this report we demonstrate that interleukin-3, erythropoietin, and steel factor all induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of the SH2 containing protein, p52shc. These studies were carried out with various human and murine cell lines to document that this is a common event in hemopoietic cells. We also show that upon tyrosine phosphorylation, p52shc becomes associated with the adaptor protein, Grb2. The formation of this complex may directly link tyrosine phosphorylation events to Ras activation in hemopoietic progenitors and may be a critical step in stimulating these cells to transit through G1 into S phase.

Erythropoietin stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2 and a 145-Kd tyrosine phosphorylated protein.

Although the erythropoietin receptor (EpR) lacks a tyrosine kinase consensus sequence within its proline-rich intracellular domain, addition of its ligand to Ep-responsive cells stimulates the rapid and transient tyrosine phosphorylation of a number of cellular proteins. The characterization of these phosphorylatable substrates, which include 5 major phosphoproteins with molecular masses of approximately 145, 130, 97, 72, and 56 Kd is an essential step in understanding the signal transduction pathways used by Ep. Recently, we and others have shown that the major 72-Kd tyrosine phosphorylated protein is the EpR itself. We now report, using both murine DA-3 and human MO7E cell lines engineered to express high levels of biologically responsive EpRs (and designated DA-ER and MO7-ER, respectively), that the major 56-Kd tyrosine phosphorylated protein is the recently identified SH2-containing protein, p52shc. Interestingly, in Ep-stimulated cells, anti-Shc antibodies coprecipitate the major 145-Kd tyrosine phosphorylated protein in both DA-ER and MO7-ER cells. Tyrosine phosphorylation of both proteins is detectable within 30 seconds of incubation with Ep at 37 degrees C, reaches a maximum between 2 and 5 minutes, and declines by 30 minutes. In addition, tyrosine phosphorylated Shc appears capable of associating with the activated EpR, but this could only be shown in MO7-ER cells. Lastly, as has been shown previously with the tyrosine kinase containing receptors for epidermal growth factor, platelet derived growth factor, and insulin, activation of the EpR leads to the association of p52shc with the 25-Kd polypeptide, Grb2. Taken together, our data suggest that the previously reported increases in rasGTP observed with Ep result, in part, from the tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and its association with Grb2 and/or a tyrosine phosphorylated 145-Kd protein.

Expression of Thy-1 on human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Expression of Thy-1 on hematopoietic cells from human fetal liver (FL), cord blood (CB), and bone marrow (BM) was studied with a novel anti-Thy-1 antibody, 5E10. Specificity of 5E10 for human Thy-1 was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation of a 25-35-kD molecule, and the sequence of a cDNA that was cloned by immunoselection of COS cells transfected with a cDNA library derived from a 5E10+ cell line. Two- and three-color immunofluorescence staining experiments revealed that the Thy-1 expression is restricted to, an average, 1-4% of FL, CB, and BM cells, and binding to these cell types is essentially restricted to a very small subset of lymphoid cells and approximately 25% of CD34+ cells. Thy-1+ CD34+ cells were further characterized as CD38lo/CD45RO+/CD45RA-/CD71lo/c-kit(lo) and rhodamine 123dull. When CD34+ cells were sorted on the basis of Thy-1 expression, the majority of clonogenic cells were recovered in the CD34+Thy-1- fraction, whereas the majority of cells capable of producing myeloid colonies after 5-8 wk of long-term culture (long-term culture initiating cells) were recovered in the Thy-1+CD34+ fraction. In addition to CD34+ cells, Thy-1 was found to be expressed on a variable, very small number (< 1%) of CD34- mononuclear cells in BM, CB, and peripheral blood that were further characterized as CD3+ CD4+ lymphocytes. The restricted expression of Thy-1 on primitive hematopoietic cells is in agreement with a previous report (Baum et al., 1992. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 89:2804) in which Thy-1 expression was used to enrich for primitive hematopoietic cells from fetal tissue. Compared with those previous studies, we found Thy-1 expression on a larger proportion of CD34+ cells (25% in our study vs. 5% in Baum et al.) and furthermore performed studies on Thy-1 expression on CD34+ cells from CB, FL, and BM in relation to markers that are known to be differentially expressed on hematopoietic cells. Taken together our results indicate that Thy-1-specific antibody 5E10 is an attractive tool for further studies on the biology and purification of human stem cells.

Steel factor stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of the proto-oncogene product, p95vav, in human hemopoietic cells.

Steel factor (SF) (also called stem cell factor, mast cell growth factor, or c-kit ligand) is a recently cloned hemopoietic growth factor that is produced by bone marrow stromal cells, fibroblasts, and hepatocytes. In both mouse and man it acts synergistically with several colony stimulating factors, including interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), to induce the proliferation and differentiation of primitive hemopoietic precursor cells. In order to study its mechanism of action and to explore the molecular basis for its synergistic activity we have examined the proteins that become tyrosine phosphorylated in response to SF, IL-3, and GM-CSF. We report herein that SF, but not IL-3 or GM-CSF, dramatically stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of the product of the recently discovered proto-oncogene, vav, in two SF-responsive human cell lines, M07E and TF-1. Although phosphorylation is very rapid, reaching maximal levels within 2 min at 37 degrees C, co-immunoprecipitation studies suggest that c-kit may either not associate directly with p95vav or bind to it with very low affinity. Nonetheless, our data suggest that c-kit may utilize p95vav to mediate downstream signaling in hemopoietic cells.

Change in charge of an unvaried heme contact residue does not cause a major change of conformation in cytochrome c.

The structure of the Ala38 variant of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c, in which the previously unchanged Arg38 has been replaced, has been characterised by NMR. The NMR data indicate that the structure of the Ala38 variant is very similar to that of the wild type protein. In particular, the heme environment and interactions of the heme macrocycle are shown to be preserved. Analysis of the chemical shift perturbations to the resonances of Ile35 is shown to be consistent with the change in charge at position 38. The only significant area of conformational change detected was at residues 39 and 58, close to the site of modification. Therefore the redox potential change accompanying the modification [1988, Biochemistry 28, 3188-3197] appears to be a direct consequence of the altered side-chain of residue 38 and not a result of secondary conformational changes induced by the modification.

Production and purification of recombinant human interleukin-5 from yeast and baculovirus expression systems.

A cDNA for human interleukin-5 (hIL-5) was created from the hIL-5 gene using site-directed mutagenesis to splice out the introns in vitro. This cDNA was expressed in yeast and baculovirus systems, utilizing in both cases an in-frame fusion to the pre sequence of the alpha-mating-type factor to direct secretion. The highest level of production was achieved from Sf9 cells using a baculovirus vector in serum-containing medium (2.7 mg/l), whereas in serum-free medium ten times less hIL-5 was produced. In the yeast system much lower levels of hIL-5 were produced (12.5 micrograms/l). Recombinant hIL-5 was purified to homogeneity from serum-free baculovirus cultures. The rhIL-5 consisted of a 30-kDa homodimer linked by disulfide bridging. The purified recombinant protein had a specific activity on murine BCL1 cells of 1.5 x 10(4) U/mg, of 3 x 10(5) U/mg in the murine eosinophil differentiation factor assay, and 2.4 x 10(7) U/mg in a human peripheral eosinophil maintenance assay.

Role of arginine-38 in regulation of the cytochrome c oxidation-reduction equilibrium.

Arg-38 is an internal residue of mitochondrial cytochrome c that is close to heme propionate-7. Previous work comparing the behavior of cytochromes c from several species [Moore, G. R., Harris, D. E., Leitch, F. A., & Pettigrew, G. W. (1984) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 764, 331-342] has suggested that Arg-38 lowers the pKa of this propionate group and thereby accounts for the relative pH independence of the cytochrome c reduction potential from pH 5 to pH 8. The influence of Arg-38 on the oxidation-reduction equilibrium of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c has now been investigated by electrochemical, NMR, and theoretical analysis of six specifically mutated forms of this protein in which Arg has been replaced by Lys, His, Gln, Asn, Leu, or Ala. As the electron-withdrawing character of the residue at position 38 decreases, the reduction potential of the protein also decreases, with the largest decrease (ca. 50 mV) observed for the Ala variant. However, the variation in the reduction potentials of the mutants as a function of pH was similar to that observed for the wild-type protein. The effects of some of these mutations on the pKa values of His-33 and His-39 have been determined by NMR spectroscopy and found to be minimal. Calculations of the electrostatic free energy for the Leu-38 variant predict a decrease in the reduction potential of this mutant that is remarkably close to that observed experimentally. This work establishes that while Arg-38 contributes to the relatively high reduction potential of cytochrome c, this residue does not appear to be the sole functionality responsible for lowering the heme propionate-7 pKa.

Replacement of cysteine-107 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae iso-1-cytochrome c with threonine: improved stability of the mutant protein.

Site-directed mutagenesis has been used to change the codon for cysteine-107 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae iso-1-cytochrome c to a threonine codon. The resulting protein is active in vivo, is methylated as in the wild-type protein and has optical properties indistinguishable from those of the wild-type protein. The threonine-107 iso-1-cytochrome c demonstrated fully reversible electrochemical behaviour and a mid-point reduction potential of 272 mV versus NHE. In addition, this mutant does not demonstrate a tendency to autoreduce or to dimerize as does the wild-type protein. These properties of the threonine-107 mutant establish that it will provide a useful background in which to make subsequent mutations for mechanistic and physical studies of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c.

Characterization of murine erythropoietin.

Although erythropoietins from human and sheep sources have been purified, a mouse erythropoietin remains essentially uncharacterized despite the fact that the mouse is most commonly used to assay for erythropoietin. Because other murine growth factors may have erythropoietic activity it will be essential to compare these with erythropoietin from murine sources rather than from other species. Here we compare the physicochemical properties and some of the bioactivities of erythropoietins from anemic mouse serum and human urine in parallel fractionations. Both molecules showed similar molecular weights (40-45,000) by gel filtration and similar retention characteristics on reverse-phase high-performance columns. However, they differed in their relative solubility in ammonium sulfate, hydrophobicity on phenyl-Sepharose, and in their ability to bind to a phenyl-boronate agarose column. Despite these differences the two molecules stimulated the same number of CFU-E in the mouse fetal liver assay and did so with similar dose-response relationships. The data indicate that putative murine erythropoietic stimuli must be compared with murine erythropoietin and not human urine erythropoietin before concluding, on the basis of fractionation results, that a factor is different from erythropoietin.

Preparation of human erythropoietin for tissue culture.

A simple two-step procedure has been developed for the production of human urinary erythropoietin suitable for tissue culture use. Lyophilized human urinary protein was fractionated by phenyl-Sepharose chromatography, the erythropoietin binding in 2 M lithium chloride and being eluted by an ascending linear gradient to 6 M guanidine hydrochloride. The erythropoietin was further purified by ethanol (75% vol/vol) precipitation. This two-step procedure resulted in a 25-fold purification of erythropoietin with a 50% recovery of the starting activity. The erythropoietin preparation was suitable for use in murine or human cultures, being free of protease activity, inhibitory factors, colony-stimulating factors, and erythroid-enhancing activities.

Purification of a multipotential colony-stimulating factor from pokeweed mitogen-stimulated mouse spleen cell conditioned medium.

A factor able to stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of multipotential stem cells and progenitor cells of the granulocyte-macrophage, eosinophil, and erythroid lineages as well as being able to maintain factor-dependent cell lines in culture has been purified from pokeweed mitogen-stimulated mouse spleen cell-conditioned medium. The factor was purified over 2 million-fold by sequential fractionation using salting out chromatography, chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose, gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography on a phenyl-silica column, and gel permeation high performance liquid chromatography. All of the biological activities ascribed to the multipotential colony-stimulating factor co-fractionated through all steps, and the other known mouse-active hemopoietic regulator in pokeweed mitogen-stimulated mouse spleen cell-conditioned medium, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, was separated at the ion exchange step. Two protein species having Mr = 24,000 and 19,000 were visualized by silver-staining of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels of the purified factor. Both species migrated coincidently with the biological activities. The factor was active at a half-maximal concentration of 1 X 10(-13) M when assayed on a factor-dependent cell line.

Selective stimulation by mouse spleen cell conditioned medium of human eosinophil colony formation.

Stimulation of unfractionated or nonadherent human marrow cells in agar culture by pokeweed-mitogen-stimulated BALB/c mouse spleen cell conditioned medium (SCM) led, in most cultures, to the exclusive formation of eosinophil colonies. The culture system exhibited linearity of eosinophil colony formation with varying numbers of cells cultured, and the absolute numbers and size of SCM-stimulated eosinophil colonies approximated those in cultures stimulated by human placental conditioned medium. The active factor in SCM for human eosinophil colony formation was not clearly separable from the factors stimulating granulocyte-macrophage and eosinophil colony formation by mouse marrow cells on ammonium sulfate and phenyl boronate chromatography, but was of larger size than the mouse-active factors and separable from them by phenyl sepharose chromatography. This selective culture system for eosinophil colony formation should be of value for studies on human eosinophil progenitor and maturing cell populations in a variety of disease states.

Purification and characterisation of two endo-(1 linked to 3)-beta-D-glucanases from Telescopium telescopium.

The crystalline style of the gastropod Telescopium telescopium contains two (1 linked to 3)-beta-D-glucanases and a beta-D-glucosidase. The two glucanases (I and II) have been purified and shown to be endo-enzymes. Both enzymes attack laminarin, carboxymethylpachyman, and lichenin, but have no action towards carboxymethyl-cellulose. The main products of hydrolysis of laminarin are D-glucose and beta-(1 linked to 3)-linked oligosaccharides of d.p. 2, 3, and 4. Glucanases I and II are similar to each other, although they differ in molecular weight and kinetic properties.