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J Biol Chem, Vol. 274, Issue 39, 27610-27616, September 24, 1999
From the Departments of The µ opioid receptor (MOR) has been shown to
desensitize after 1 h of exposure to the opioid peptide,
[D-Ala2, N-MePhe4,
Gly-ol5]enkephalin (DAMGO), largely by the loss of
receptors from the cell surface and receptor down-regulation. We have
previously shown that the Thr394 in the carboxyl tail is
essential for agonist-induced early desensitization, presumably by
serving as a primary phosphorylation site for G protein-coupled
receptor kinase. Using a T394A mutant receptor, we determined that
Thr394 was also responsible for µ opioid receptor
down-regulation. The T394A mutant receptor displayed 50% reduction of
receptor down-regulation (14.8%) compared with wild type receptor
(34%) upon 1 h of exposure to DAMGO. Agonist-induced T394A
receptor down-regulation was unaffected by pertussis toxin treatment,
indicating involvement of a mechanism independent of G protein
function. Interestingly, pertussis toxin-insensitive T394A receptor
down-regulation was completely inhibited by a tyrosine kinase
inhibitor, genistein. Tyrosine kinase inhibition blocked wild type MOR
down-regulation by 50%, and the genistein-resistant wild type MOR
down-regulation was completely pertussis toxin-sensitive. Following
DAMGO stimulation, MOR was shown to be phosphorylated at tyrosine
residue(s), indicating that the receptor was a direct substrate for
tyrosine kinase action. Mutagenesis of the four intracellular tyrosine
residues resulted in complete inhibition of the G protein-insensitive
MOR internalization. Therefore, agonist-induced MOR down-regulation
appears to be mediated by two distinct cellular signal transduction
pathways. One is G protein-dependent and
GRK-dependent, which can be abolished by pertussis toxin
treatment of wild type MOR or by mutagenesis of Thr394. The
other novel pathway is G protein-independent but tyrosine kinase-dependent, blocked by genistein treatment, and one
in which Thr394 has no regulatory role but phosphorylation
of tyrosine residues appears essential.
Although the acute actions of opioids can induce a number of
beneficial effects including analgesia and euphoria, chronic use of
opioids produces tolerance and dependence (1, 2), which are among the
major factors limiting the clinical use of these compounds. The
molecular mechanisms underlying these phenomena are poorly understood,
but receptor desensitization has been implicated as having a major role.
It has been shown that opioid receptor desensitization is directly
related to receptor phosphorylation (3-5), possibly mediating receptor
down-regulation (6, 7). A role for several kinases has been postulated
in opioid receptor desensitization, including cAMP-dependent protein kinase
(PKA)1 (4),
calcium-dependent protein kinase (PKC) (4, 8), G
protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) (5, 9), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (10). A large body of evidence for many G
protein-coupled receptors supports the contention that phosphorylated
receptors are translocated into the cytosol through binding of arrestin to the phosphorylated receptor. Thus, phosphorylation of the receptors appears to be the prerequisite event for receptor down-regulation (11,
12). In addition to the general involvement of kinases in receptor
function, specific phosphorylation sites have been mapped in the third
intracellular loop and the carboxyl tail of the muscarinic cholinergic
receptor and In the case of the µ opioid receptor (MOR), the reduction of total
membrane receptors appears to be the major mechanism for functional
desensitization of the MOR (7, 9). Furthermore, we and others have
reported that the structural determinants necessary for agonist-induced
MOR desensitization are Thr394 and its preceding acidic
amino acid stretch (6, 9). Thus, in present study, we examined the
further functional roles of these amino acid residues in the carboxyl
tail to establish the structural determinants mediating MOR
down-regulation.
Generation of Mutants and Stable Cell Lines Expressing Wild Type
or Mutant Receptors--
The full-length cDNA for the rat MOR was
cloned into the mammalian expression vector pRC/CMV (InVitrogen, San
Diego, CA). This construct was used as a template for mutagenesis and
for subsequent stable transfection of the wild type and mutant receptor cDNAs into CHO cell lines. Mutant MORs such as T394A, T/S363-383A (AT), T/S363-379AT (ATT) (see Fig. 1), and 4YF (Y87F, Y92F, Y165F, and
Y336F) (see Fig. 5B) were constructed by substituting single or multiple amino acid residues. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed using a polymerase chain reaction-based technique as described (18). Briefly, oligonucleotide primers corresponding to
unique Eco47III/ApaI restriction sites (located
at amino acids 304-305 and at 3'-region of vector, respectively) or
NotI (located at the 5'-region of
vector)/Eco47III were utilized in combination with two
mutagenic primers. Polymerase chain reaction fragments were digested
with unique restriction enzymes and subcloned into the corresponding
restriction sites of the pRC/CMV encoding a MOR construct. All
mutations were verified by dideoxy sequencing. For stable expression,
the cell line CHO K-1 (number CCL61; American Type Culture Collection)
was grown to 60% confluency in a 100-mm dish and subsequently
transfected with wild type or mutant constructs in pRC/CMV vector using
a calcium phosphate transfection kit (Life Technologies, Inc.)
according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Stable transfectants
were selected in 1 mg/ml geneticin (Life Technologies, Inc.), and
clones with the appropriate expression level were screened by
radioligand binding assay. 30-90 clones expressing varying numbers of
receptors were screened to select those with comparable expression levels.
Desensitization Conditions and Adenylyl Cyclase Assay--
CHO
cells expressing wild type or mutant MORs at confluent monolayer were
treated with either medium alone or 1 µM DAMGO (final concentration) and incubated for 1 h at 37 °C in 5%
CO2. Incubation was terminated by washing plates three
times with 12 ml of ice-cold PBS. Membranes were prepared as described
above. Adenylyl cyclase assays were conducted essentially as described
previously (9). The assay mix contained 20 µl of membrane suspension
(15-20 µg of protein), 12 µM ATP, 0.1 mM
cAMP, 53 µM GTP, 2.7 mM phosphoenopyruvate, 0.2 unit of pyruvate kinase, 1 unit of myokinase, and 0.13 µCi of
[32P]ATP in a final volume of 50 µl. Enzyme activities
were determined in triplicate assay tubes containing increasing
concentrations (10 Membrane Preparation and Radioligand Binding Assays--
Cells
were grown until apparent confluence and then washed twice with 12 ml
of ice-cold PBS, harvested, and centrifuged at 100 × g
for 10 min. Cells were then lysed in hypotonic buffer (5 mM
Tris-HCl, pH 7.8, 2 mM EDTA, containing a protease
inhibitor mixture of 10 mg/ml leupeptin, 5 mg/ml soybean trypsin
inhibitor, and 5 mg/ml benzamidine) with a polytron homogenizer
(Brinkman Instruments, Westbury, NY) for two 30-s bursts at the 5.5 setting. The lysate was then centrifuged at 100 × g
for 10 min to pellet unbroken cells and nuclei. The supernatant was
collected and centrifuged at 30,000 × g for 30 min,
and the resulting pellet was resuspended in buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8, 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EGTA with the protease inhibitor mixture and used
immediately for radioligand binding studies. Protein content was
determined according to the method of Bradford (19). For saturation
experiments, cell membranes (20-30 µg of protein/tube) were
incubated with increasing concentrations of [3H]naloxone
(specific activity, 58.5 Ci/mmol; NEN Life Science Products) in a total
volume of 1 ml. Specific binding was determined by calculating the
difference in binding of the radiolabeled ligand in the absence and
presence of the µ-selective antagonist naltrexone (10 µM). Competition experiments were performed using
[3H]naloxone at approximately its Kd
value and competing cold drug, DAMGO, at concentrations ranging from
10 Pretreatment Conditions of Stably Transfected Cells with Various
Drugs--
To cause the down-regulation of receptors, CHO cells
expressing wild type or mutant MOR at confluent monolayer were treated with either medium alone or 1 µM DAMGO (final
concentration) and incubated for 1 h at 37 °C in 5%
CO2. To study the down-regulation of receptors, cells were
pretreated with different kinase inhibitors for 15 min before adding 1 µM DAMGO, and treatment was continued through the
incubation with DAMGO. Pertussis toxin (1 µg/ml) was incubated for
24 h before treating with 1 µM DAMGO. Incubation was
terminated by washing plates three times with 12 ml of ice-cold PBS.
Membranes were prepared as described above and subjected to the binding assays.
Immunoprecipitation and Immunoblotting--
Three 100-mm dishes
of CHO cells were used for each of three groups: untransfected CHO,
untreated MOR, and MOR treated with 1 µM DAMGO for 1 h. After treatment, each group of cells was washed three times with
ice-cold PBS and lysed with Nonidet P-40 buffer (1% Nonidet P-40, 10 mM NaF, 1 mM sodium pervanadate, 0.1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 5 mg/ml leupeptin, 10 mg/ml soybean trypsin, and 10 mg/ml benzamide in PBS buffer) for 20 min. Supernatant was collected after centrifugation at 150,000 × g for 15 min, assayed for protein concentration by the
Bradford method (19), and precleared by 100 µl of presoaked protein
A-agarose beads (Upstate Biotech, Lake Placid, NY). For
immunoprecipitation, 1 ml of the precleared supernatant was incubated
for 2 h with an antiserum (1:500) directed against 18 amino acids
of the proximal carboxyl tail of MOR, and further incubated with 60 µl of the bead slurry for 2 h. Beads were washed five times by
resuspension with 0.5% Nonidet P-40 buffer followed by
microcentrifugation, and immunoprecipitated proteins were dissociated
from beads by extraction with 60 µl of SDS-polyacrylamide gel loading
buffer (4% SDS, 25 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 5% glycerol,
0.5% 2-mercaptoethanol, and 0.005% bromphenol blue). 150 µl of the
immunoprecipitated protein were separated on 7% SDS-polyacrylamide
gels with prestained protein marker (Helixx Technologies, San Diego,
CA). The proteins on the gel were subsequently electrotransferred to a
nitrocellulose membrane (Schleicher & Schuell). After blocking with
10% milk, proteins were detected with horseradish
peroxidase-conjugated anti-phosphotyrosine (Upstate Biotech) according
to the manufacturer's recommendation or detected with MOR antibody
(1:5000) by immunoprecipitation. Tyrosine phosphorylated proteins were
visualized with an enhanced chemiluminescence system (Amersham
Pharmacia Biotech), and precipitated MORs were also visualized using
horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit secondary antibody
detection (1:3000).
Data Analysis--
The binding data from saturation and
competition experiments were fit by nonlinear least squares regression
using the data analysis program LIGAND (20). Data from multiple
experiments were averaged and expressed as the means ± S.E. The
results were considered significantly different when the probability of
randomly obtaining a mean difference was <0.05 using the paired
Student's t test.
We have previously reported that the MOR is desensitized after
1 h of treatment with an agonist, 1 µM DAMGO (7).
The underlying mechanism of this agonist-induced form of
desensitization is likely phosphorylation of MOR, because mutation of a
potential GRK phosphorylation site, Thr394 in the carboxyl
tail of MOR, completely abolished agonist-induced desensitization (9).
During 1 h of DAMGO exposure, the absolute number of MOR in the
high affinity state was reduced, resulting from a reduction in total
membrane receptors, and this seemed to be the major mechanism causing
functional desensitizaton (7). Therefore, we have investigated the
possible role of specific carboxyl tail residues including
GRK-dependent phosphorylation sites in MOR down-regulation
(Fig. 1).
With wild type MOR, [3H]naloxone competition by DAMGO
following exposure to agonist for 1 h showed that the total number
of receptors was decreased by 34 ± 1.6% (n = 6)
compared with that of untreated membranes (Fig.
2A). The proportion of
receptors in the agonist-detected high affinity state and in low
affinity state (Table I) remained
unchanged following treatment with DAMGO, suggesting that prolonged
exposure of agonist did not affect the coupling of wild type MOR to G
protein (Fig. 2B). We tested the involvement of
Thr394 and the proximal 7 serine/threonine amino acid
residues in agonist-induced MOR down-regulation. Interestingly, none of
these mutations resulted in complete abolishment of receptor
down-regulation, even though only the T394A mutant receptor showed
complete inhibition of DAMGO-induced desensitization. However, compared
with wild type receptor, T394A mutant receptors were down-regulated to
a lesser extent following agonist exposure; 34 ± 1.6%
(n = 6) for wild type, 14.8 ± 3.19% (n = 8) for the T394A receptor (Fig. 2A).
The AT mutant receptor (Fig. 1) showed desensitization of DAMGO
inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation after 1 h of
agonist treatment, with maximal inhibition that was only 70% of that
observed with wild type receptor (9). This mutant receptor also showed
down-regulation of receptor by 21.7 ± 1.95% (n = 4), which was 64% of wild type MOR down-regulation (p < 0.05) (Fig. 2A). The ATT mutant (Fig. 1) showed an
identical degree of desensitization compared with wild type receptor
(9). This mutant receptor also showed an identical degree of receptor down-regulation (29.9 ± 0.2%, n = 3, p > 0.05) compared with the wild type receptor (Fig.
2A). Down-regulation of the AT and ATT mutant receptors were
significantly different from each other (p < 0.05),
suggesting that these receptors differing by a single amino acid
demonstrated differential capabilities of agonist-induced down-regulation. However, these mutations did not affect agonist affinity or proportion of receptors in the high affinity and the low
affinity states (Table I) compared with wild type receptor, just as
shown for the T394A mutant (Fig. 2C), indicating that the
properties of G protein coupling were identical to that of wild type
MOR. These data imply that the mutated residues in the carboxyl tail of
MOR are not involved in G protein coupling but may serve as site(s)
regulating down-regulation and desensitization. Furthermore, all mutant
receptors displayed the identical degree of agonist-mediated maximal
inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity and also similar
IC50 values (Table II),
indicating that the mutant receptors retained the ability to stimulate
the adenylyl cyclase effector system through normal G protein
activation, even though they differed with respect to receptor
down-regulation (Fig. 2A). This strongly suggests that MOR
down-regulation is independent of G protein activation.
Agonist-induced, G Protein-dependent and
-independent Down-regulation of the µ Opioid Receptor
THE RECEPTOR IS A DIRECT SUBSTRATE FOR PROTEIN-TYROSINE
KINASE*
,
§,
§
**
Pharmacology and
Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada, the
§ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1A8, Canada and the ¶ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland,
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
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ABSTRACT
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
![]()
INTRODUCTION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
2 adrenergic receptor (
2AR)
(12, 13). However, few studies have directly addressed the involvement
of receptor phosphorylation in the down-regulation of opioid receptors.
In the case of the
opioid receptor, deletion of the carboxyl tail
of receptor expressed in CHO cells completely abolished receptor
down-regulation, suggesting that the carboxyl tail is the necessary
structural determinant for
opioid receptor down-regulation (15,
16). In contrast to this study, the same
opioid receptor deletion
mutant expressed in HEK 293 cells showed the identical degree of
receptor internalization compared with the wild type
opioid
receptor in the absence of any detectable phosphorylation, suggesting
that phosphorylation of G protein-coupled receptors may not be an
absolute requirement for receptor internalization (17).
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EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
11-10
3 M) of
DAMGO with 10 µM forskolin. Adenylyl cyclase
activity was also measured in the presence of buffer alone (basal) or
forskolin alone and incubated at 27 °C for 20 min. Reactions were
stopped by the addition of 1 ml of an ice-cold solution containing 0.4 mM ATP, 0.3 mM cAMP, and [3H]cAMP
(25,000 cpm). [32P]cAMP and [3H]cAMP were
isolated by sequential column chromatography using Dowex cation
exchange and aluminum oxide columns. The amount of [3H]cAMP was used to quantify individual column recovery.
Data were analyzed by nonlinear least squares regression.
11 to 10
4 M. After 2 h
of incubation at room temperature, bound ligand was isolated by rapid
filtration through a 48-well cell harvester (Brandel, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada) onto GF/C Whatman filters. Filters were washed with 10 ml of
ice-cold 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, and placed in glass vials
with 5 ml of scintillation fluid (Cytoscint; ICN, Costa, Mesa, CA) and
counted for tritium. All experiments were performed in duplicate, and
each experiment was repeated at least three times.
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RESULTS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
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View larger version (6K):
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Fig. 1.
Schematic representation showing the
positions of the amino acid substitutions at potential phosphorylation
sites in the carboxyl tail of MOR. In wild type MOR
(WT), bold letters indicate the eight potential
phosphorylation sites, serine(s)/threonine(s). The numbers
above denote the amino acid positions in the receptor protein. In
mutant MORs (T394A, AT, and ATT), bold letters indicate the
sites of substitution of serine/threonine by alanine, and the
dashed line indicates no changes from wild type.

View larger version (15K):
[in a new window]
Fig. 2.
Effects of substitution of serines and
threonines in the carboxyl tail of the MOR on agonist-induced receptor
down-regulation. A, CHO cells expressing wild type or
mutant receptors were incubated in the absence and presence of 1 µM DAMGO for 1 h, and subsequently, saturation
binding was estimated using increasing concentrations of
[3H]naloxone. The percentages of DAMGO-induced receptor
down-regulation are presented as the means ± S.E. of at least
three independent experiments. Significant difference from wild type is
denoted by an asterisk (p < 0.05).
B and C, CHO cells expressing either wild type
(B) or T394A mutant receptor (C) were incubated
in in the absence (
) and presence (
) of 1 µM DAMGO
for 1 h and subjected to competition binding assay. Experiments
were conducted in triplicate and repeated 6-8 times. Representative
data are shown.
Binding parameters for the stably transfected wild type or mutant µ opioid receptors
Functional properties of wild type and mutant MORs
To determine the involvement of G protein activation in MOR
down-regulation, CHO cells expressing wild type MOR were treated with 1 µg/ml of pertussis toxin for 24 h to uncouple the receptor from
G proteins. Membranes treated with pertussis toxin were then exposed to
DAMGO for 1 h. Pertussis toxin treatment resulted in a complete
loss of the agonist detected high affinity state, with receptor
existing in a single low affinity, indicating complete uncoupling from
G protein (Fig. 3A). However,
DAMGO-induced down-regulation of MOR still occurred after pertussis
toxin treatment. The down-regulation of MOR by agonist following
pertussis toxin treatment was confirmed by Scatchard analysis of
[3H]naloxone saturation isotherms (Fig. 3A,
inset). The reduction of cell surface receptors by DAMGO in
pertussis toxin treated membranes was 21.65 ± 3.75%
(n = 3) of that observed with pertussis toxin treatment
alone (Fig. 3B). This degree of down-regulation was
significantly different from wild type MOR (34 ± 1.6%
n = 6) but not different from the T394A mutant receptor
down-regulation (14.8 ± 3.2, n = 8) (Fig.
3B). Therefore, agonist-induced MOR down-regulation was
reduced by 40% with pertussis toxin treatment, indicating partial
dependence on G protein activation. However, the residual MOR
down-regulation unaffected by pertussis toxin treatment was therefore
clearly independent of G protein activation. Thus, it is tempting to
speculate that MOR down-regulation, which is partially blocked by the
T394A mutation, may be dependent on G protein activation and
GRK-dependent phosphorylation, whereas the residual
down-regulation seen in the T394A mutant or after pertussis toxin
treatment may be independent from G protein activation and, further,
independent from GRK-dependent phosphorylation. This led us
to test the possibility that the agonist may induce MOR down-regulation
through activation of protein kinases other than GRKs.
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To determine the identity of the kinases involved in G
protein-independent receptor down-regulation, we used a panel of kinase activators and inhibitors. Because there are several reports of the
possible role of PKA or PKC on receptor phosphorylation (4, 8) and the
target motif is present in the third intracellular loop of MOR, we
first examined for involvement of these kinases. To test the
possibility of PKA involvement in MOR down-regulation, H89-dihydrochloride was used to inhibit PKA activation. CHO cells expressing wild type MOR were treated with H89-dihydrochloride 5 µM for 15 min prior to and during 1 µM
DAMGO treatment for 1 h. The PKA activator, 8-bromo cAMP 100 µM, was also tested without pretreatment with DAMGO to
determine whether PKA involvement was an agonist-specific phenomenon.
In the same way, the PKC inhibitor, bis-indolylmaleimide I (1 µM) and activator, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (1 µM) were also tested. Surprisingly, neither PKA nor PKC
inhibitors blocked agonist-induced MOR down-regulation (Fig.
4A). The PKA inhibitor
resulted in increased DAMGO-induced MOR down-regulation (45.5 ± 3.2%, n = 4), whereas the PKA activator alone did not
affect MOR down-regulation (Fig. 4A). MOR down-regulation by
agonist in the presence of the PKC inhibitor was unaffected (37.63 ± 2.5%, n = 4), and the PKC activator alone did not
cause any changes in receptor down-regulation (Fig. 4A).
However, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein (final concentration,
100 µM) partially blocked DAMGO-induced MOR
down-regulation (17.3 ± 3.3%, n = 4) by 50%
compared with wild type MOR (Fig. 4A). But genistein in the
absence of DAMGO without activation of MOR did not affect the receptor
density on the cell surface (data not shown), indicating that MOR
down-regulation because of activation of tyrosine kinase was
agonist-specific. Furthermore, the blockade of MOR down-regulation
using genistein was saturable, suggesting that genistein could not
block MOR down-regulation further with higher concentrations (data not
shown).
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Because the study of wild type MOR suggested that receptor down-regulation was partially G protein-independent and genistein sensitive, we examined whether this was dependent on tyrosine kinase activation. Because DAMGO-induced receptor down-regulation was present in the T394A mutant receptor (14.8 ± 3.2%) (Fig. 3B), we first tested whether this residual T394A mutant receptor down-regulation was also G protein-independent. CHO cells expressing the T394A mutant receptor were treated with 1 µg/ml pertussis toxin for 24 h prior to DAMGO treatment, and receptor down-regulation was compared with cells treated with pertussis toxin alone. Indeed, DAMGO-induced T394A mutant receptor down-regulation occurred even following pertussis toxin treatment, and its extent (13.15 ± 0.8%, n = 3) was identical to that of pertussis toxin untreated membranes (14.8 ± 3.2%) (Fig. 4B), suggesting that DAMGO-induced T394A mutant receptor down-regulation was entirely G protein-independent.
We further tested whether the G protein-independent T394A mutant
receptor down-regulation could be blocked by the tyrosine kinase
inhibitor. When CHO cells expressing the T394A mutant receptor were
treated with 100 µM genistein, down-regulation of
receptors because of DAMGO exposure was completely blocked (Fig.
4B). We therefore explored the possibility that MOR might be
a direct substrate for tyrosine kinase. When wild type MOR expressed in CHO cells was precipitated using the anti-MOR antibody and probed with
an anti-phosphotyrosine antibody, a tyrosine-phosphorylated protein of
~70 kDa appeared only in the transfected cells exposed to DAMGO (Fig.
5A, lane 3 in
upper panel). Similar amounts of MOR protein were detected
in transfected but agonist-untreated cells when the anti-MOR
immunoprecipitates were Western blotted (Fig. 5A,
lanes 5 and 6 in lower panel). Because
there are four tyrosine residues in intracellular loops and the
carboxyl tail that may serve as potential phosphorylation sites (Fig.
5B), we mutated all four tyrosines to phenylalanine (4YF) to
test whether these residues were functionally involved in MOR
down-regulation. The 4YF mutant receptor stably expressed in CHO cells
consistently demonstrated a low expression level in 45 cell lines
screened, suggesting that some or all of these tyrosine residues may
have a role in cell surface expression (Table II). We have previously reported that the receptor expression level did not affect the degree
of DAMGO-induced receptor down-regulation (7). Interestingly, the 4YF
mutant receptor showed comparable receptor down-regulation with the
T394A receptor: 14.53 ± 3.8% (n = 3) for 4YF
(Fig. 5C) and 14.8 ± 3.19% for T394A receptor (Fig.
2A), suggesting that the G protein-dependent
pathway was still active in the 4YF mutant receptor.
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To examine the involvement of G protein-dependent receptor
down-regulation in the 4YF mutant, cells expressing this receptor were treated with pertussis toxin. DAMGO-induced 4YF mutant receptor down-regulation was completely abolished by pertussis toxin treatment (1 ± 1.6%, n = 3) in Fig. 5C,
indicating that the residual receptor down-regulation observed in 4YF
was entirely due to the G protein-dependent pathway
mediated by Thr394 and, further, that the tyrosine residues
mutated were functionally involved in receptor down-regulation. Thus,
MOR down-regulation seems to be governed by two distinct and mutually
exclusive cellular signal transduction pathways.
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DISCUSSION |
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Our results demonstrate that MOR down-regulation is dually
regulated by two distinct equally important cellular signal
transduction pathways; one is a G protein dependent,
GRK-dependent pathway, and the other is a G
protein-independent, tyrosine kinase-dependent pathway.
Agonist-induced down-regulation of G protein-coupled receptors has been
proposed to be due to phosphorylation of the agonist-bound form of the
receptors and subsequent internalization, because of binding of
arrestin to the phosphorylated form of receptors (reviewed in Refs. 11
and 12). The recognition sites for the G protein-coupled receptor
kinases have been identified as repeated serines and threonines mostly
in the carboxyl tail, by phosphopeptide sequencing of high pressure
liquid chromatography purified peptides derived from proteolysis of
phosphorylated receptors (21, 22). However, the involvement of these
amino acid residues in receptor down-regulation has been unclear. For
instance, Strader et al. (23) reported that a mutant hamster
2AR lacking both the GRK-dependent phosphorylation sites and the putative PKA sites in the carboxyl terminus was sequestered normally in response to the agonist, isoproterenol. In contrast to this study, using a chimeric
3/
2AR in which single or multiple
intracellular domains and carboxyl tail of the
2AR were
exchanged with the corresponding regions of the
3-adrenergic receptor, Jockers et al. (14)
have shown the involvement not only of the carboxyl tail of
2AR but also the second intracellular loop in receptor
sequestration. Because a chimeric receptor, in which the carboxyl tail
of
2AR containing GRK-dependent
phosphorylation sites was exchanged into
3-adrenergic receptor, did not show
2AR like sequestration, this
result suggested that factors other than GRK-dependent ones
may be involved in receptor sequestration. However, in certain other
receptor systems, there is evidence that receptor down-regulation may
be solely due to GRK-dependent phosphorylation. For
instance, in the case of the human muscarinic cholinergic receptor
types 1 and 3, serine/threonine rich domains in the third intracellular
loop are involved in receptor internalization; amino acid residues
ESLTSSE for type 1 and ENSASSD for type 3, which are
GRK-dependent phosphorylation sites, were the only
determinants for receptor internalization (24). Additionally, in the
case of the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor, a mutant in which all
serines and threonines in the carboxyl tail were deleted showed
complete abolishment of receptor internalization (25). However, this
deletion mutant receptor showed normal activation of the effector
system in increasing total inositol phosphate similar to wild type
receptor, indicating that in this case, receptor internalization was
regulated independently from receptor-G protein coupling. Furthermore,
2AR expressed in the cyc
mutant
of S49 cells that are functionally uncoupled from adenylyl cyclase
because of an inherent mutant Gs present, still were able to internalize normally (26, 27). These results strongly support distinct and independent mechanisms for G protein activation in signal
transduction and for receptor internalization. In our study, the MOR
was partly down-regulated by DAMGO even after uncoupling the receptor
from G protein by pertussis toxin treatment, indicating that MOR
down-regulation was mediated by G protein-independent factors as well.
Our results implicate other factors distinct from G protein activation
that mediate receptor down-regulation. Because phorphorylation of
receptors has been accepted as a prerequisite event leading to receptor
internalization (28-31), it is likely that other kinases independent
of G protein activation may also be activated directly by ligand
binding of receptor to phosphorylate receptors.
What other kinases are likely to be involved? Although
PKA-dependent phosphorylation of
2AR was
known to play an important role in agonist-specific desensitization
together with GRK, the direct involvement of this kinase in
agonist-induced receptor internalization has not been well
characterized (32-35). However, the tyrosine residue
(NPXXY), which is highly conserved among G protein-coupled
receptors has been reported to be responsible for
2AR
sequestration (28, 36, 37). Indeed, agonist-induced receptor
sequestration was essentially abolished with the Y326A mutant
2AR (NPXXA) but was only slightly reduced in
the conservatively substituted Y326F receptor (38). This result
indicates that this tyrosine residue may not be involved in receptor
phosphorylation because of tyrosine kinase activation, but this
sequence motif seems to provide the distinct structure for the binding
of some other cellular proteins involved in receptor sequestration.
However, there has been a substantial body of evidence that tyrosine
kinases could be activated through G protein-coupled receptor
stimulation. Activation of Gq-coupled m1 muscarinic
cholinergic receptor has been shown to activate a Src-related tyrosine
kinase, Lyn, and Gi-coupled m2 muscarinic cholinergic
receptor has been shown to activate another nonreceptor tyrosine
kinase, Syk (39). Furthermore, phosphoamino acid analysis establishes
that
2AR residues Tyr132,
Tyr141, Tyr350/353, and Tyr364 are
phosphorylated by insulin in vitro, suggesting that
2AR is a substrate for the insulin receptor tyrosine
kinase (40). More directly, upon agonist stimulation, the YIPP motif in
the carboxyl tail of angiotensin AT1 receptor was reported
to be phosphorylated by c-Src tyrosine kinase (41). However, the role
of the activation of these tyrosine kinases on G protein-coupled
receptor function has been unclear.
In the case of MOR, PKA and PKC have been reported to be differentially related to MOR function (4). Activation of PKC with phorbol ester potentiated the desensitization of MOR-induced G protein-activated K+ channel activity, but injection of the catalytic subunit of PKA completely abolished the desensitization (4). Interestingly, another group reported contradictory results with the same system, where the desensitization of MOR-induced G protein-activated K+ channel activity was not affected by PKA or PKC activation (42). These controversial effects of PKA and PKC on MOR desensitization may be due to effects of these two kinases on other components of the signaling pathways. Furthermore, the PKC inhibitor staurosporine failed to block morphine-induced receptor phosphorylation and subsequent receptor desensitization, although the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate enhanced receptor phosphorylation (8). Our data showed that PKA or PKC did not affect MOR down-regulation and very likely MOR desensitization following agonist exposure for 1 h. Recently, mitogen-activated protein kinase affecting MOR function has been reported, whereby agonist activation of MOR stimulated mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and, further, promoted receptor desensitization and internalization (10). It has been suggested that activation of MOR increases c-Src tyrosine kinase activity (43), but the consequence of this activation on MOR function has not been elucidated. We have shown for the first time that MOR is directly phosphorylated by a protein-tyrosine kinase upon receptor activation and that this has a significant role in receptor down-regulation. This result confirms our conclusion that GRK-independent protein kinases are also stimulated by MOR activation.
In summary, we have demonstrated that there are two distinct but
equally important cellular mechanisms mediating agonist-induced MOR
down-regulation; one is a G protein-dependent,
GRK-dependent pathway, and the other is a G
protein-independent, tyrosine kinase-dependent pathway. One
pathway appears unaffected when the other pathway is blocked, and we
have identified discrete structural elements that separately
participate in each pathway. This is the first demonstration of a role
for tyrosine kinase in agonist-induced MOR down-regulation. Further
investigation of the specific tyrosine residues that may be substrates
for tyrosine kinase action and the other cellular proteins that may
participate following tyrosine phosphorylation will elucidate the
detailed molecular mechanism of tyrosine kinase activation leading to
MOR internalization.
| |
FOOTNOTES |
|---|
* This work was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Smokeless Tobacco Research Council, Inc.The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
** To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Bldg., Rm. 4358, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada. Tel.: 416-978-3367; Fax: 416-971-2868; E-mail: s.george@utoronto.ca.
| |
ABBREVIATIONS |
|---|
The abbreviations used are:
PKA, cAMP-dependent protein kinase;
PKC, calcium-dependent protein kinase;
GRK, G protein-coupled
receptor kinase;
MOR, µ opioid receptor;
CHO, Chinese hamster ovary;
DAMGO, [D-Ala2, N-Me-Phe4,
Gly-ol5]enkephalin;
2AR,
2-adrenergic receptor;
PBS, phosphate-buffered
saline.
| |
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