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Crosstalk of the EphA2 receptor with a serine/threonine phosphatase suppresses the Akt-mTORC1 pathway in cancer cells.

ABSTRACT: Receptor tyrosine kinases of the Eph family play multiple roles in the physiological regulation of tissue homeostasis and in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer. The EphA2 receptor is highly expressed in most cancer cell types, where it has disparate activities that are not well understood. It has been reported that interplay of EphA2 with oncogenic signaling pathways promotes cancer cell malignancy independently of ephrin ligand binding and receptor kinase activity. In contrast, stimulation of EphA2 signaling with ephrin-A ligands can suppress malignancy by inhibiting the Ras-MAP kinase pathway, integrin-mediated adhesion, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Here we show that ephrin-A1 ligand-dependent activation of EphA2 decreases the growth of PC3 prostate cancer cells and profoundly inhibits the Akt-mTORC1 pathway, which is hyperactivated due to loss of the PTEN tumor suppressor. Our results do not implicate changes in the activity of Akt upstream regulators (such as Ras family GTPases, PI3 kinase, integrins, or the Ship2 lipid phosphatase) in the observed loss of Akt T308 and S473 phosphorylation downstream of EphA2. Indeed, EphA2 can inhibit Akt phosphorylation induced by oncogenic mutations of not only PTEN but also PI3 kinase. Furthermore, it can decrease the hyperphosphorylation induced by constitutive membrane-targeting of Akt. Our data suggest a novel signaling mechanism whereby EphA2 inactivates the Akt-mTORC1 oncogenic pathway through Akt dephosphorylation mediated by a serine/threonine phosphatase. Ephrin-A1-induced Akt dephosphorylation was observed not only in PC3 prostate cancer cells but also in other cancer cell types. Thus, activation of EphA2 signaling represents a possible new avenue for anti-cancer therapies that exploit the remarkable ability of this receptor to counteract multiple oncogenic signaling pathways.

SUBMITTER: Yang NY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2972709 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Crosstalk of the EphA2 receptor with a serine/threonine phosphatase suppresses the Akt-mTORC1 pathway in cancer cells.

Yang Nai-Ying NY Fernandez Carlos C Richter Melanie M Xiao Zhan Z Valencia Fatima F Tice David A DA Pasquale Elena B EB

Cellular signalling 20100915 1

Receptor tyrosine kinases of the Eph family play multiple roles in the physiological regulation of tissue homeostasis and in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer. The EphA2 receptor is highly expressed in most cancer cell types, where it has disparate activities that are not well understood. It has been reported that interplay of EphA2 with oncogenic signaling pathways promotes cancer cell malignancy independently of ephrin ligand binding and receptor kinase activity. In contra ...[more]

PMID: 20837138

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Project description:The last step of peptidoglycan polymerization involves two families of unrelated transpeptidases that are the essential targets of ?-lactam antibiotics. D,D-transpeptidases of the penicillin-binding protein (PBP) family are active-site serine enzymes that use pentapeptide precursors and are the main or exclusive cross-linking enzymes in nearly all bacteria. However, peptidoglycan cross-linking is performed mainly by active-site cysteine L,D-transpeptidases that use tetrapeptides in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Clostridium difficile, and ?-lactam-resistant mutants of Enterococcus faecium. We have investigated reprogramming of the E. faecium peptidoglycan assembly pathway by a switch from pentapeptide to tetrapeptide precursors and bypass of PBPs by L,D-transpeptidase Ldtfm. Mutational alterations of two signal transduction systems were necessary and sufficient for activation of the L,D-transpeptidation pathway, which is essentially cryptic in wild-type strains. The first one is a classical two-component regulatory system, DdcRS, that controls the activity of Ldtfm at the substrate level. As previously described, loss of DdcS phosphatase activity leads to production of the D,D-carboxypeptidase DdcY and conversion of the pentapeptide into the tetrapeptide substrate of Ldtfm. Here we show that full bypass of PBPs by Ldtfm also requires increased Ser/Thr protein phosphorylation resulting from impaired activity of phosphoprotein phosphatase StpA. This enzyme negatively controlled the level of protein phosphorylation both by direct dephosphorylation of target proteins and by dephosphorylation of its cognate kinase Stk. In combination with production of DdcY, increased protein phosphorylation by this eukaryotic-enzyme-like Ser/Thr protein kinase was sufficient for activation of the L,D-transpeptidation pathway in the absence of mutational alteration of peptidoglycan synthesis enzymes. Importance: The mechanism of acquisition of high-level ampicillin resistance involving bypass of the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) by L,D-transpeptidase Ldtfm was incompletely understood, as production of tetrapeptide precursors following transcriptional activation of the ddc locus by the DdcRS two-component regulatory system was necessary but not sufficient for full activation of the L,D-transpeptidation pathway. Here, we identified the release of a negative control of Ser/Thr protein phosphorylation mediated by phosphatase StpA as the additional factor essential for ampicillin resistance. Thus, bypass of PBPs by Ldtfm requires the modification of signal transduction regulatory systems without any gain of function by mutational alteration of peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzymes. In contrast, previously characterized mechanisms of antibiotic resistance involve horizontal gene transfer and mutational alteration of drug targets. Activation of the L,D-transpeptidation pathway reported in this study is an unprecedented mechanism of emergence of a new metabolic pathway since it involved the recruitment of preexisting functions following modifications of regulatory circuits.

Dataset Information

Crosstalk of the EphA2 receptor with a serine/threonine phosphatase suppresses the Akt-mTORC1 pathway in cancer cells.

Publications

Crosstalk of the EphA2 receptor with a serine/threonine phosphatase suppresses the Akt-mTORC1 pathway in cancer cells.

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