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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 31, 28921-28929, August 1, 2003
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From the
Protein Phosphorylation Laboratory and
¶Light Microscopy Laboratory, Cancer Research UK
London Research Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields Laboratories, 44 Lincoln's Inn
Fields, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom
Received for publication, February 28, 2003
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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C-Met, encoded by the c-met proto-oncogene is a disulfide-linked
/
heterodimer, derived by proteolytic processing of the precursor
p170met (8). The
-chain,
p145met, spans the plasma membrane and includes a cytoplasmic domain endowed
with tyrosine kinase activity. The mechanisms by which c-Met triggers its
regulatory functions involve the activation of several intracellular signaling
pathways trough a unique multisubstrate docking site within the C-terminal end
of the receptor (reviewed in Ref.
9).
It is well established that many transmembrane receptors become internalized upon ligand stimulation. Although EGFR endocytosis and traffic have been extensively studied and represents probably the best understood receptor trafficking system (10), interest in c-Met and its traffic are just emerging. Several receptors such as EGFR or platelet-derived growth factor receptor are ubiquitinated and then degraded by the lysosomal pathway (reviewed in Refs. 11 and 12). So far, it has been reported that c-Met is polyubiquitinated (13) via the c-Cbl proto-oncogene (14), (15) and degraded in a proteasome-dependant manner (13). However, more recent studies (16) indicate that the primary effect of proteasome inhibition on c-Met could occur indirectly through an effect on acute HGF-induced c-Met endocytic traffic. Similar results have been described for growth hormone receptor (17).
In view of the critical role played by c-Met in cancer, it is important to
know how its endocytosis and trafficking are regulated. The endocytosis of
several membrane receptors is activated by PKC. For example this is the case
for the
-aminobutyric type A receptor, the parathyroid hormone receptor
1, and the sst2A somatostatin receptor
(1820).
Prior evidence indicates that PKC plays a negative role in controlling c-Met
function (21), however it is
not known how this relates to the internalization or traffic of c-Met.
In this study we show that, upon HGF stimulation, the rapidly internalized c-Met traffics and accumulates in a perinuclear compartment, which in part includes the Golgi, corresponding presumably to a recycling compartment. By following the trafficking of c-Met inside the cell using a semiautomatic assessment of vesicle distribution, we demonstrate that this trans-cytosolic movement of c-Met requires an intact microtubule network and is promoted by PKC. After2hofHGF stimulation, half of the internalized c-Met has been degraded by a proteasomal pathway. C-Met is likely a direct target of the proteasome, because we do not detect any effect of inhibition of proteasome activity on internalization of c-Met; furthermore, the lysosomal pathway does not play a substantial role. Inhibition or promotion of c-Met traffic to the perinuclear compartment does not alter the kinetics of proteasome-dependent c-Met degradation. Thus susceptibility to proteasomal degradation follows receptor internalization but is not a consequence of post-endocytic traffic.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Transfections were performed on cells seeded on coverslips in 24-well plates. For each well, 0.8 µg of DNA was mixed with 1.5 µl of LipofectAMINETM 2000 (Invitrogen) in 100 µl of OPTIMEM1 with Glutamax (Invitrogen), incubated at room temperature for 20 min to allow the precipitate to form and directly added to the cells in their culture medium. Five hours later the culture medium was changed. Stimulations were performed 24 h post-transfection.
Growth Factors, Antibodies, Inhibitors, and ConstructsPurified human recombinant HGF was obtained from R&D Systems. The following antibodies were used: affinity-purified rabbit polyclonal anti-human c-Met intracellular domain (12-amino acid CT, Santa Cruz Biotechnology); goat polyclonal anti-early endosome autoantigen 1 (EEA1; Santa Cruz Biotechnology); mouse monoclonal antibodies anti-tubulin (Santa Cruz Biotechnology for Western blots and Sigma for immunofluorescence); mouse monoclonal anti-c-Met extracellular domain (Upstate Biotechnology Inc); mouse monoclonal antibodies against p115 and GM130 (BD Biosciences); goat polyclonal anti-human EGFR (Santa Cruz Biotechnology); goat anti-human HGF (Sigma); mouse monoclonal anti HGF (R&D System). The secondary antibodies used for Western blot were peroxidase-labeled monkey anti-mouse or anti-rabbit IgG (Amersham Biosciences) and peroxidase-labeled rabbit anti-goat IgG (Dako). The secondary antibodies used for immunofluorescence experiments were Alexa 488-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (Molecular Probes), cy3- or cy5-conjugated affinity-purified donkey anti-mouse IgG and cy5-conjugated affinity-purified donkey anti-goat IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch). MG132, lactacystin, concanamycin, bafilomycin A1, paclitaxel (or taxol), vinblastine sulfate were obtained from Calbiochem. Nocodazole, colchicine, cycloheximide, propidium iodide, TPA (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate), and RNase A were purchased from Sigma. Bisindolylmaleimide I (BIM-I) was obtained from Alexis Biochemicals. LysoTracker was obtained from Molecular Probes. The pCMV-Myc r-AP180 C terminus (residues 530915) (myc-AP180-C) construct was a generous gift from Dr. Harvey T. McMahon (Cambridge, UK).
Immunofluorescence and Confocal AnalysisCells were washed
twice in PBS and fixed in 2% paraformaldehyde for 10 min. Free aldehydes were
quenched with 50 mM NH4Cl in PBS for 10 min. Fixed cells
were permeabilized in 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS-2% bovine serum albumin for 15
min. For microtubule staining, the fixation and permeabilization were as
follows: cells were incubated for 30 s in a buffer containing 1% Nonidet P-40,
100 mM Pipes, 2 mM EDTA, 1 mM
MgCl2, and 0.1 mM EDTA. They were then immediately
incubated in methanol at 20 °C for 2 min. Fixed cells were
incubated at room temperature for 1 h with the primary antibodies at the
following concentrations: anti-c-Met (1 µg/ml), anti-EEA1 (2 µg/ml),
anti
-tubulin (1/200), anti-p-115 (1/200), and anti-GM130 (1/200).
Cells were rinsed and incubated with appropriate secondary antibodies (5
µg/ml) for 30 min. When indicated, nuclei were stained as follows: cells
were incubated in RNase A (1 µg/ml) for 15 min and then in propidium iodide
(0.2 µg/ml) for 10 min. Cells were washed three times in PBS and once in
water and then mounted in Mowiol containing 2.5% DABCO
(1,4-diazabicyclo-[2,2,2]octane). Images were acquired using a confocal laser
scanning microscope (LSM510, Carl Zeiss Inc.) equipped with a 63x/1.4
Plan-Apochromat oil immersion objective. Alexa 488 was excited with the 488-nm
line of an argon laser, Cy3 was excited with a 543-nm HeNe laser and Cy5 was
excited with a 633-nm HeNe laser. Each image represents a single section.
Western Blot AnalysisCells were harvested in 100 µl of
Laemmli sample buffer (22) and
boiled for 10 min. Samples were loaded on 7.5% polyacrylamide gels. Separated
proteins were transferred to a 0.45-µm nitrocellulose transfer membrane
(Schleicher & Schuell). Protein loading was checked by staining with
Ponceau Red. Membranes were then blotted with the intracellular domain c-Met
antibody and anti-
-tubulin. Blots were then incubated with appropriate
peroxidase-linked secondary antibodies. Immunoblots were revealed using the
ECL Western blotting detection reagents (Amersham Biosciences).
Semiautomatic Assessment of Vesicles in the CytosolFluorescence images of cell nuclei and vesicles were acquired on an Axiovert TM 135 microscope (Carl Zeiss) equipped with a 63x numerical aperture 1.3 objective lens and an Orca ER CCD camera (Hamamatsu) using Acquisition Manager (Kinetic Imaging). Multiple dichroic with excitation and emission filter wheels ensured that there was no lateral shift between the two fluorescent channels. Cell nuclei were automatically detected by thresholding, and their boundaries were interpolated by elliptical curves (see Fig. 1B). c-Met-positive vesicles were detected by Sobel image enhancement followed by thresholding. Cell boundaries were interactively determined. Two distances were calculated for each vesicle located outside the nucleus: the distance from the cell boundary (a) and the distance to the nuclear boundary (b) along a line passing through the center of the nucleus elliptical boundary. The relative distance of a vesicle from the cell boundary was evaluated as a/(a + b). Relative distances can have values between 0 (vesicle at the cell boundary) and 1 (vesicle at the nucleus). The relative distances were weighted according to the total intensity of fluorescence in the vesicles for calculations of mean values, standard deviations, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a hierarchical unbalanced model. The following levels and total numbers of data were used in the hierarchical structure: relative distances (78,637), cells (976), observation fields (357), cell cultures (67), experiments (40), and treatments (12).
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| RESULTS |
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PKC Controls the Movement of c-Met from Early Endosome to a Perinuclear CompartmentIt has been shown that PKC can negatively influence c-Met signaling (21, 23). To establish whether this action is effected through the control of HGF-induced traffic of c-Met, an inhibitor of PKC, BIM-I (bisindolylmaleimide I) was employed. BIM-I did not have a substantial effect upon HGF-induced internalization of c-Met. However, it consistently reduced the rate of accumulation of c-Met in the perinuclear compartment (Fig. 2A). c-Met is consequently retained in an early endosomal compartment at 120 min of stimulation (Fig. 2B, compare with Fig. 1F). Using the semi-automatic assessment of fluorescent vesicle distribution, we quantified this effect at 15 and 120 min of stimulation as shown in Table I. For example, at 15 min, BIM-I reduces the relative distance of c-Met from the cell boundary to nuclear boundary by 14% (p < 0.001). The BIM-I effect is specific to c-Met, because transferrin distribution is not modified after 1 h of treatment (Fig. 2C).
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To confirm the effect of PKC on this trans-cytosolic traffic of c-Met the effect of the direct PKC activator TPA was assessed. In combination with HGF, TPA was found to promote the perinuclear accumulation of internalized c-Met (Fig. 2D). This effect was also blocked by BIM-I.
The Trans-cytosolic Movement of c-Met Vesicles Is Microtubule-dependentThe effects of PKC inhibition/activation indicate that trans-cytosolic traffic of c-Met is an active, regulated process. The basis of this active traffic was investigated in relation to the requirement for cytoskeletal integrity. Microtubules have been shown to be required for traffic of endocytosed receptors (see Refs. 24 and 25). Disruption of the microtubule network with vinblastine or its stabilization with taxol had no substantial effect upon HGF-induced internalization. However, both agents inhibited the movement of c-Met to the perinuclear compartment (Fig. 3A). These effects are quantified in Table I. For example, at 120 min, vinblastine and taxol reduce the relative distance of c-Met from cell boundary to nuclear boundary by 25% (p < 0.001) and 22% (p < 0.01), respectively. A similar inhibitory effect was obtained with the two structurally unrelated microtubule depolymerizing agents colchicine and nocodazole (data not shown). To confirm the action of these agents, the microtubule network was visualized directly (Fig. 3B). The relationship between the microtubule-based transcytosolic traffic of c-Met and the influence of PKC on this process is evidenced by the finding that the promotion of c-Met traffic by TPA, in the presence of HGF, is also blocked by microtubule disruption (Fig. 3C). This indicates that it is the microtubule-based movements of internalized, vesicular c-Met that is positively regulated by PKC.
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The Accumulating Perinuclear c-Met Compartment in Part Corresponds to
the GolgiWestern blot of c-Met demonstrates that, during the time
period when c-Met is trafficking, HGF induces a progressive loss of the mature
p145 form of c-Met such that at later times the p170 precursor form is roughly
at the same concentration as the p145. This has been validated both by the
anti-c-Met intracellular domain antibody
(Fig. 4A) and the
anti-c-Met extracellular domain antibody (data not shown). Densitometric
analysis showed that the loss of the p145 form of c-Met reaches 60% by
240480 min (p < 0.01). The contribution of the immature
p170c-Met precursor to the perinuclear pool of immunoreactive
receptor was determined by its elimination with the protein synthesis
inhibitor cycloheximide. Acute pretreatment with cycloheximide completely
inhibited p170c-Met synthesis as evidenced by its steady-state loss
(Fig. 4B), however
there was no effect upon the rate of HGF-induced p145c-Met
degradation. c-Met immunofluorescence of control and cycloheximide treated
cells indicated that for controls a substantial overlap with the Golgi
compartment was observed at later times following HGF treatment. This was
evident at 240 min using the Golgi markers p115
(Fig. 4C) and GM130
(data not shown). In cycloheximide-treated cells, where essentially all the
immunoreactivity represents p145c-Met (see above), there was only a
weak overlap with the Golgi compartment. This indicates that there is limited
recycling of internalized c-Met p145c-Met through the Golgi
compartment and that the majority of the internalized receptor is degraded
following accumulation in a non-Golgi perinuclear compartment. However, after
240 min of HGF stimulation, only a limited co-localization was detected
between c-Met and LBPA (data not shown) or LysoTracker
(Fig. 4D) when
compared with GM130, indicating that c-Met degradation is not substantially
routed through the lysosomal pathway. In addition, co-localized
immunofluorescence of LysoTracker is much less evident with c-Met than with
EGFR after stimulation with HGF or EGF, respectively
(Fig. 4E). It is also
notable that perinuclear c-Met displays a distinct distribution compared with
-tubulin (Fig.
4F).
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C-Met Degradation Is Proteasome-dependent and Independent of Its Post-endocytic TrafficTo distinguish proteasome and lysosomal directed c-Met degradation, proteasome inhibitors were employed. Both MG132 and lactacystin completely blocked p145c-Met degradation (Fig. 5A). By contrast, MG132 blocks only 24% of EGFR degradation after 120 min of EGF stimulation (Fig. 5B). Previous studies provided evidence that the primary effect of proteasome inhibition on c-Met degradation occurs indirectly through an effect on c-Met endocytosis (16). Although no effects of these agents on endocytosis had been observed (see above) the post-endocytic action of the inhibitors was confirmed by application 10 min after HGF, at a time when the bulk of c-Met was already internalized (see Fig. 1A). This post-treatment with MG132 also produced a complete block in HGF-induced p145c-Met degradation (Fig. 5C). In contrast to previous result (16), we do not detect any block of c-Met degradation in presence of the vacuolar-type H+-ATPase inhibitor concanamycin A used at the same concentration (Fig. 5D). Similar results have been obtained with bafilomycin A1 (data not shown). To determine whether the engagement of proteasome-mediated degradation was particular to the perinuclear compartment, delivery to this compartment was blocked by pretreating the cells with BIM-I, vinblastine, and taxol or, conversely, was promoted by TPA. None of these agents affected HGF-induced p145c-Met degradation (Fig. 5, E and F). Moreover, we found that proteasomal degradation can still be blocked in the presence of vinblastine (Fig. 5G). This indicates that engagement of the proteasome machinery is not restricted to the perinuclear compartment and that post-endocytic c-Met traffic and degradation are independent.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The mechanism of c-Met internalization appears to involve clathrin-mediated endocytosis, being inhibited by a pretreatment of cells with dansylcadaverine or by overexpression of the COOH part of AP180 (myc-AP180-C). It has been shown previously that EGFR endocytosis was inhibited by the full-length AP180 or AP180-C (27) as a consequence of the blocking of clathrin-coated pit formation. The COOH domain of AP180 is able to bind clathrin and to stimulate cage assembly in vitro. These results are consistent with the finding that c-Met endocytosis is impaired by mutant dynamin expression (16). c-Met degradation is dependent on its internalization, because no HGF-dependent degradation is seen in the presence of dansylcadaverine (data not shown). Similarly, it has been shown by others that expression of a dominant interfering mutant of endophilin (28) or mutant dynamin (16) impairs c-Met internalization and down-regulation.
In line with the studies by Jeffers et al. (13) we observed that HGF degradation of c-Met is under an absolute dependence of proteasome activity. By contrast, in HeLa cells under these conditions, the proteasomal pathway is responsible for only 24% of EGFR degradation. As noted above, we do not find that the proteasome/ubiquitination is implicated in c-Met internalization. This seems to be the case for the growth hormone receptor (17). As recently published, EGFR would not appear be a direct proteasomal target but its lysosomal sorting is influenced by proteasome inhibition (29). Such indirect proteasome function on c-Met degradation is unlikely, because, contrary to the conclusion of Hammond et al. (16), we show that the perinuclear c-Met does not correspond to late endosomes/lysosomes and the co-localization with LysoTracker is substantially stronger for EGFR than c-Met. Consistent with this, no substantial effects of bafilomycin or concanamycin were observed on c-Met degradation; this is in contrast with the data of Hammond et al. (16) obtained with concanamycin. This implies that the alternative degradative pathway requiring lysosomal acidification is not a major one for c-Met. It cannot be excluded that a small part of the endocytosed c-Met is degraded by the lysosomal pathway. Indeed it is possible that a balance exists between proteasomal (dominating for c-Met) and lysosomal (dominating for EGFR) pathways that could be modified depending on cell type and/or different physiological or pathological conditions.
The analysis of the trans-cytosolic traffic of c-Met was facilitated by
application of software that permits quantitation of the c-Met migration
toward the nuclear boundary, where c-Met is destined within the first few
hours. This provides clear statistical evidence on the process and the effects
of inhibitors and activators. This was exploited to show for example that PKC
stimulates c-Met trans-cytosolic traffic. PKC activity has been shown to
increase or induce the internalization of the sst2A somatostatin receptor and
the
-aminobutyric acid type A receptor and to be absolutely required
for parathyroid hormone receptor 1 internalization
(1820).
By contrast, the activation of PKC decreased the rate of internalization of
the cystic fibrosis membrane conductance regulator
(30) and has been shown to
inhibit the transfer of EGFR from early to late endosomes
(31). In the present work, PKC
inhibition or activation does not block c-Met internalization but impairs or
promotes, respectively, the traffic from an early endosomal compartment to the
perinuclear compartment. Kamei et al.
(26) reported that long term
(218 h) treatment with TPA alone induces c-Met internalization and its
perinuclear accumulation. Here, acute treatment with TPA (25 min) did not
modify c-Met plasma membrane expression. We also found that the BIM-I effect
on traffic is still observed in cells pretreated with cycloheximide,
indicating that we are not following modified movement of the newly
synthesized c-Met.
It has been demonstrated for other receptors that transport from early to
late endosomes can be microtubule-dependent. For example, perturbing
cytoskeletal integrity by the use of microtubule depolymerizing agents such as
nocodazole (32) or the
microtubule-stabilizing drug taxol
(25,
33), can inhibit EGFR or
asialoglycoprotein receptor traffic. It is of note in this context that PKC
has been reported to influence microtubule dynamics in a number of cell types
(25,
33,
34). It is possible, that PKC
might increase the turnover of attachment/detachment of c-Met vesicles to the
microtubules or perhaps that PKC promotes an increase of microtubule lifetimes
as has been shown recently in neuronal growth cones
(35). It was noted that BIM-I
by itself does not modify the integrity of the microtubule cytoskeleton (data
not shown). Multiple aspects of PKC control of c-Met behavior may be relevant
to HGF responses. Thus, it has been shown that PKC activity can be required
for HGF-induced cell proliferation
(36) and invasion
(37). The extent to which this
is dependent upon the intrinsic dynamics of c-Met traffic is as yet unclear,
however, the precedent of PKC control of
1-integrin-dependent
migration though the control of
1-integrin traffic
(38,
39) suggests an important role
for controlling c-Met traffic. On the other hand, PKC can play a negative role
on c-Met function such as a decrease in HGF-induced cell tubulogenesis
(40,
41).
There is evidence of a relationship between traffic and degradation for a variety of receptors. For instance, PKC reduces significantly EGFR degradation in parallel to the inhibition of EGFR trafficking to the late endosome (31). Another relevant example is that the modification of asialoglycoprotein trafficking by taxol is accompanied by an inhibition of its degradation (25). In the present study, PKC inhibitors, activators, and microtubule-disrupting agents do not modify the degradation of c-Met. These findings indicate that c-Met degradation does not require trafficking to a late endosomal compartment as has been proposed (16). This is consistent with the fact that c-Met does not extensively traffic through the late endosome pathway as discussed above. Consequently, it is concluded that the engagement of the proteasome machinery is not restricted to the perinuclear compartment. This is evidenced by the finding that the extent of degradation of c-Met remains unaffected and indeed can still be blocked by proteasome inhibition when the microtubule cytoskeleton is disrupted. This is also consistent with the finding that the mammalian proteasome is localized all over the cell (in contrast to yeast proteasomes, which mainly localize to the nuclear envelope/endoplasmic reticulum membrane network (42). Thus, susceptibility to proteasome degradation for c-Met is not a direct consequence of traffic.
The endocytosis of ligand-activated receptors has been considered to be the initiating step in its desensitization. Recent studies, however, have provided evidence that this removal from the plasma membrane may not of itself cause signal attenuation. In fact, there is growing evidence that receptors remain competent to signal in endosomal compartments and that the nature of the signal output is distinct in these compartments (43, 44). As we show here for c-Met, the rate of receptor degradation is much slower than the rate of internalization. Consequently, we detect the accumulation of pools of intracellular c-Met and HGF. It is likely that particular c-Met signals are generated within these distinct endosomal compartments. However, the demonstration here, that HGF-induced c-Met degradation can be effected equally from the various internalized compartments, indicates that this degradative pathway dominates those that control traffic (e.g. PKC) and endosomal signaling.
In summary, this study identifies a PKC-regulated step in microtubule-dependent traffic of c-Met. These properties are exploited to demonstrate that proteasome-dependent degradation of internalized c-Met is not a consequence of post-endocytic traffic.
| FOOTNOTES |
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To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 44-20-7269-3018; Fax:
44-20-7269-3094; E-mail:
s.kermorgant{at}cancer.org.uk.
1 The abbreviations used are: HGF, hepatocyte growth factor; EGFR, epidermal
growth factor receptor; PKC, protein kinase C; TPA,
12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline;
Pipes, 1,4-piperazinediethanesulfonic acid; BIM-I, bisindolylmaleimide I; CMV,
cytomegalovirus; ANOVA, analysis of variance. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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