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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 9, 7808-7816, March 4, 2005
Internalization and Src Activity Regulate the Time Course of ERK Activation by Delta Opioid Receptor Ligands*![]() ![]() ![]() **![]() ![]()
From the
Received for publication, October 14, 2004 , and in revised form, December 2, 2004.
The present study showed that delta opioid receptor ( OR) ligands Tyr-Ticpsi [CH2-NH]Cha-Phe-OH (TICP) and ICI174864 behaved as inverse agonists in the cyclase pathway but induced agonist responses in the ERK cascade. Unlike ligands that behaved as agonists in both pathways, and whose stimulation of ERK was marked but transient (10 min), ERK activation by ICI174864 and TICP was moderate and sustained, lasting for more than 1 h in the case of TICP. Biochemical experiments showed that duration of ERK activation by agonists and "dual efficacy ligands" was inversely correlated with their ability to trigger receptor phosphorylation and degradation. Thus, although TICP stabilized ORs in a conformation that did not incorporate 32P, was not a substrate for tyrosine kinase Src, and was not down-regulated following prolonged exposure to the drug, the conformation stabilized by D-Pen-2,5-enkephalin (DPDPE) incorporated 32P, was phosphorylated by Src, and suffered degradation within the first 2 h of treatment. Inhibition of endocytosis by sucrose prolonged ERK activation by DPDPE increasing the decay half-life of the response to values that resembled those of dual efficacy ligands (from a 2-min decay t increased to 12 min). Src inhibitor PP2 also prolonged ERK stimulation by DPDPE. It did so by maintaining a sustained activation of the kinase at 20% of maximum following an initial rapid reduction in the response. These results show that specific kinetics of ERK activation by agonists and dual efficacy ligands are determined, at least in part, by the differential ability of the two types of drugs to trigger mechanisms regulating OR responsiveness.
Occupation of G protein-coupled receptors by agonist ligands has two distinct consequences, the generation of an intracellular signal and the concomitant activation of a series of regulatory mechanisms that modulate receptor responsiveness over time. The chain of regulatory events triggered by agonist occupation of the receptor has been extensively characterized and has led to an established model of desensitization in which phosphorylation of the receptor by G protein-coupled receptor kinases is the first step in the process (1, 2). Phosphorylation then promotes the recruitment of arrestin (3, 4), which is responsible for uncoupling the receptor from the G protein (5) and for its targeting to clathrin-coated pits. From there receptors will be removed from the cell surface via dynamin-dependent endocytosis (6). Once inside the cell the receptor is either degraded or is quickly redirected to the cell membrane (7) for a new signaling cycle.
Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting this tightly knit model of activation and desensitization, there are also increasing observations indicating that activation and regulatory phenomena can be dissociated. For example, antagonist ligands for cholecystokinin (8) and endothelin receptors (9) selectively induce internalization without causing neither receptor activation nor phosphorylation. Agonists for parathyroid hormone type 1 receptor stabilize an active state that promotes signaling but does not recruit
Ligands that stabilize G protein-coupled receptors in a conformation that prevents activation of the G protein are classified as inverse agonists and are commonly thought to induce an inactive conformation of the receptor (12, 13). More recently, some of these drugs have been described as "proteans" or "dual efficacy ligands," referring to their ability to display both agonist and inverse agonist behavior (11, 1416). For example, we have recently shown that ICI118551 and propranolol, two ligands of the
The observation that some "inverse agonists" may produce agonist responses indicates that the conformation they stabilize is not inactive, but rather a signaling state that is distinct from the one stabilized by classic agonists. If receptor states stabilized by agonists and dual efficacy ligands are distinct, then one would expect that the responses that they elicit would also be regulated in a distinct manner. The present study focused on this question, assessing whether agonistic responses generated by dual efficacy ligands for the
ReagentsBuffer chemicals, protease inhibitors, DPDPE, morphine, naloxone, forskolin, isobutylmethylxanthine, PTX, sucrose, anti-FLAG M2 affinity resin, and FLAG peptide were purchased from Sigma. [35S]GTP S, [3H]adenosine, and [32P]orthophosphoric acid were from PerkinElmer Life Sciences. ICI174864 and SNC-80 were obtained from Tocris Cookson, TIPP and TICP were synthesized as described previously (17). 4-Amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7-(t-butyl)pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine (PP2) was from Calbiochem. G418, DMEM, fetal bovine serum, fungizone, glutamine, penicillin, and streptomycin were purchased from Wisent.
DNA ConstructsThe human
Cell Culture and TransfectionHEK293s cells were transfected using the calcium-phosphate precipitation method and clones stably expressing full-length or truncated receptors were selected using 400 µg/ml G418. Cell lines stably expressing full-length
Phosphorylation and Immunoprecipitation of FLAG-tagged ReceptorsFor 32P incorporation assays, cells were incubated for 2 h in phosphate-free DMEM, after which [32P]orthophosphoric acid was added at a final concentration of 1 mCi/ml, and incubation was allowed to proceed for an additional hour. At this time, DPDPE (1 µM), TICP (1 µM), or vehicle (0.01% Me2SO) were added to the incubation medium for 30 min. Cells were then recovered, and membranes were prepared as indicated below and finally suspended in solubilization buffer (0.5% n-dodecyl-maltoside (w/v), 25 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 2 mM EDTA, 140 mM NaCl, 5 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml soybean trypsin inhibitor, 10 µg/ml benzamidine, 2 µg/ml aprotinin, 0.5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and 2 mM 1,10-phenantroline). Following agitation at 4 °C for 60 min, the solubilized fraction was centrifuged at 12,000 x g for 60 min, and the receptor was immunoprecipitated from the supernatant fraction using anti-FLAG M2 antibody resin. 40 µl of antibody-coupled resin equilibrated in solubilization buffer and supplemented with 0.1% bovine serum albumin (w/v) were used to purify the receptor overnight at 4 °C under gentle agitation. The next morning the resin was pelleted, washed twice with 500 µl of solubilization buffer and four times with 500 µl of modified solubilization buffer (containing 0.1% instead of 0.5% n-dodecyl-maltoside (w/v)). The receptor was then eluted by incubating the resin for 10 min at 4 °C with 100 µl of modified solubilization buffer containing 175 µg of FLAG peptide/ml. This elution was repeated three times, and the eluates were combined and concentrated by membrane filtration over Microcon-30 concentrators (Millipore). SDS sample buffer was then added, and samples were used for SDS-PAGE. A similar immunoprecipitation procedure was used to assess Tyr phosphorylation of
SDS-PAGE and Western BlottingSDS-PAGE was performed as described by Laemmli using a 4% stacking gel and 10% separating gel. Proteins resolved in SDS-PAGE were then transferred (50 mA, 16 h, Bio-Rad Mini-Trans Blot apparatus) from the gels onto nitrocellulose (Amersham Biosciences). In the case of 32P incorporation studies, membranes were first exposed for autoradiography (BIOMAX films, Eastman Kodak Co.). When assessing Tyr phosphorylation of For detection of ERK1/2 activation, cells were grown in 6-well plates and serum-starved overnight. The day of the experiment they were cultured for 2 h in serum-free medium and then exposed to different ligands. Following treatment, cells were washed with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline, and whole cell extracts were prepared by lysis in SDS sample buffer. Samples were sonicated and then boiled for 5 min before loading for SDS-PAGE. Phospho-ERK1/2 detection was done by probing membranes with antiphospho-ERK1/2 antibody (1:1,000, Santa Cruz Biotechnology). Total ERK protein was determined after stripping by using 1:20,000 dilution anti-ERK1/2 antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology). Secondary antimouse (1:5,000, Sigma) and antirabbit (1: 40,000, Amersham Biosciences) horseradish-conjugated antibodies were used to visualize proteins by chemiluminescence. ERK1/2 phosphorylation was normalized according to protein contents by expressing results as the ratio between pERK1/2 and total ERK1/2. To assess Src activation, cells were grown in 100-mm Petri dishes and prepared for the experiment as described for ERK1/2. Following treatment with different ligands cells were washed, harvested, and solubilized in precipitation assay buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 1% Triton X-100, 0.25% deoxycholate acid, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 5 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml soybean trypsin inhibitor, 10 µg/ml benzamidine, 1 µg/ml aprotinin, 1 mM Na3VO4) at 4 °C for 90 min. After centrifugation of non-solubilized debris at 12,000 x g for 20 min samples were concentrated, suspended in SDS sample buffer, and separated in SDS-PAGE. Anti-phospho-Src (Y416) monoclonal antibody (Upstate Biotechnology Inc.) at a dilution of 1:1000 was used to determine the presence of activated Src and total amount of protein loaded was detected by probing with antibody anti-Src (1:250, Upstate Biotechnology Inc.). cAMP Accumulation AssaysCells were labeled overnight (16 h) with 1 µCi/ml of [3H]adenine in complete DMEM medium. The day of the experiment radioactive medium was replaced with fresh DMEM, cells were mechanically detached and thoroughly washed (three times) with phosphate-buffered saline (4 °C), and viability was assessed using trypan blue (mortality was never higher than 5%). 5 x 105 cells were then incubated for 20 min at 37 °C in 300 µl of assay mixture containing phosphate-buffered saline, 25 µM forskolin, 2.5 µM isobutylmethylxanthine, and different drugs at the indicated concentrations. At the end of the incubation period, the assay was terminated by adding 600 µl of ice-cold solution containing 5% trichloroacetic acid, 5 mM ATP, and 5 mM cAMP. [3H]ATP and [3H]cAMP were separated by sequential chromatography on Dowex exchange resin and aluminum oxide columns. Results were expressed as the ratio of [3H]cAMP/[3H]ATP plus [3H]cAMP.
[35S]GTP Data AnalysisStatistical analysis and curve fitting were done using Prism 2.01 (GraphPad, San Diego, CA).
Comparison of the Effects of OR Ligands in cAMP and ERK Signaling CascadesIt has been previously shown that certain ligands for 2ARs display dual efficacy, inducing inverse agonist responses in the cAMP signaling pathway, but producing agonist effects in the ERK cascade (11). To determine whether this type of dual behavior was specific to Gs-coupled receptors or could be extended to receptors coupled to Gi/o proteins, different ligands for the OR were compared in adenylyl cyclase and ERK signaling pathways. In the cAMP pathway ligands produced effects that spanned the complete spectrum of efficacy ranging from agonism to inverse agonism. At maximally effective concentrations (1 µM) SNC-80 and DPDPE were highly efficacious agonists, morphine, TIPP, and naloxone were partial agonists, while ICI174864 and TICP displayed typical inverse agonist responses. Fig. 1A shows these different ligands ranked according to magnitude and vectorial aspects of their efficacies (SNC-80 DPDPE > MOR TIPP Nx > ICI174864 > TICP). In contrast with the diversity of responses observed in cAMP accumulation assays all drugs tested in the ERK cascade behaved as agonists, except for naloxone that was neutral. Indeed, ERK phosphorylation was induced not only by drugs that behaved as agonists in the cyclase cascade but also by TICP and ICI174864, which had produced inverse agonist responses when tested in this pathway. Moreover, when ranked according to the magnitude of their effect on ERK phosphorylation, TICP, the most efficacious inverse agonist in the cyclase pathway was now more effective than partial agonists TIPP and morphine in activating ERK (SNC-80 > DPDPE > TICP TIPP ICI174864 MOR > Nx).
Dual efficacy ligands for the 2AR produce ERK activation via arrestin recruitment and independently of G protein activity (11). To determine whether this was also the case for Gi/o-coupled receptors, cells were treated overnight with PTX, and ERK activity was assessed the following day. Without modifying basal activity of the kinase (pERK/ERKtotal ratio in controls: 0.6 ± 0.1; following PTX: 0.6 ± 0.1), PTX abolished ERK stimulation by classic agonist DPDPE and by dual efficacy ligand TICP (Fig. 1C). These results indicate not only that ERK stimulation by DPDPE and TICP requires Gi/o protein activity but also that simple inactivation of spontaneous Gi/o signaling cannot account for ERK stimulation. Neither TICP, ICI174864, nor classic agonists were able to evoke ERK activation in non-transfected cells (not shown), confirming that ligand-induced stimulation of ERK signaling was specifically mediated by the OR.
The Time Course of ERK Activation by Highly Efficacious Agonists and Dual Efficacy Ligands Is Correlated with Desensitization ParametersOne of the primary checkpoints that controls drug effects over time is the receptor itself. In particular, OR signaling efficacy is regulated by phosphorylation of C-terminal Ser/Thr residues (22, 23). To determine whether differences in the time course of ERK activation could be related to the distinct ability of different ligands to trigger phosphorylation of ORs cells were exposed for 30 min to DPDPE or TICP (1 µM) in the presence of [32P]orthophosphoric acid. Receptors were immunopurified, resolved on SDS-PAGE, and transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes that were first exposed for autoradiography and then used for Western blot analysis using an anti-FLAG M2 antibody. Immunoblots revealed two broad bands at 55 and 46 kDa, corresponding to mature and immature monomeric forms of the receptor, respectively (24). Autoradiograms showed that 30-min incubation with DPDPE increased 32P incorporation by the 55-kDa species, but this effect was absent for TICP. Thus, at a time when the ERK response for the agonist was no longer present, ORs were heavily phosphorylated. In contrast, ERK activation by the dual efficacy ligand was still at its maximum, and no phosphorylation of the receptor could be detected.
Phosphorylation is an initial step in the process of desensitization, but if exposure to an agonist is allowed to proceed long enough,
If indeed differences in time course of ERK activation by agonists and dual efficacy ligands were due to their distinct ability to trigger regulatory mechanisms of receptor responsiveness, interfering with these mechanisms should transform ERK activation by the agonist, into the more prolonged type of response observed for the dual efficacy ligand. To test this assumption the time course of ERK activation by DPDPE was assessed in presence of sucrose, which is an inhibitor of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Although sucrose did not turn ERK activation into a stable response, it prolonged the effect of DPDPE by increasing the decay t of activation from 2 to 12 min (p < 0.001 for interaction; two-way ANOVA; Fig. 4), a value that falls within the 11- to 15-min range observed for dual efficacy ligands. Another means to modify mechanisms regulating OR responsiveness is to mutate amino acids that are implicated in the process. For ORs, Ser/Thr residues located in the C-terminal domain of the receptor are the principal target for G protein-coupled receptor kinases, and their phosphorylation is an essential step in the desensitization of full-length ORs (22, 23, 25). To explore the contribution of these residues to the kinetics of ERK activation by DPDPE, experiments were repeated using a receptor truncated at its C terminus ( OR344T). This approach also yielded results in which the DPDPE response decayed more slowly than in the full-length receptor (t of 6 min; two-way ANOVA; p < 0.01 for interaction; Fig. 4). However, the effect of truncation was far less noticeable than that observed with sucrose on the full-length OR. Moreover, the addition of sucrose further prolonged the decay t for DPDPE in truncated receptors (t of 38 min; two-way ANOVA; p < 0.02 for interaction; Fig. 4).
Agonists but Not Dual Efficacy Drugs Induce Tyr Phosphorylation of ORsThe fact that the time course of ERK activation by DPDPE was only modestly prolonged by removal of the C terminus suggests that there could be a complementary mechanism capable of regulating ERK activation by agonists in the absence of C-terminal Ser/Thr residues. In this sense mutation of a Tyr residue located proximal to Ser/Thr amino acids of the C terminus has been shown to attenuate agonist-induced internalization and down-regulation of the receptor (26). Thus, it was deemed of interest to determine whether ORs could be differentially phosphorylated at their tyrosine residues following exposure to agonists and dual efficacy ligands. To do so, cells expressing full-length receptors were incubated for 30 min either with DPDPE or TICP, and receptors were immunopurified and separated by SDS-PAGE. Immunoblots with antibodies that recognize phosphorylated Tyr residues showed that TICP and DPDPE distinctively modified phospho-Tyr contents of ORs (Fig. 5A). Although 30-min incubation with TICP (1 µM) produced no significant change, DPDPE induced an increase in immunoreactivity for phospho-Tyr in the band corresponding to the mature receptor (Fig. 5A). Furthermore, the introduction of Src inhibitor PP2 (20 µM) prior to exposure to DPDPE prevented the increase in phospho-Tyr content (Fig. 5B), indicating that a non-receptor Tyr-kinase of the Src family was involved in agonist-induced Tyr phosphorylation of ORs. To determine whether failure of TICP to induce Tyr phosphorylation of the receptor was due to its incapacity to stimulate Src, cells overexpressing the kinase were exposed either to DPDPE or TICP and changes in Src activity assessed by immunoblot. Fig. 5C shows that both the agonist and the dual efficacy ligand increased immunoreactivity for the active form of Src, confirming that the observed difference in tyrosine phosphorylation of ORs was not related to diminished capacity of TICP to stimulate Src.
The goal of the next series of experiments was to assess whether Src could differentially regulate ERK responses generated by DPDPE or TICP. To accomplish this, cells were pretreated with increasing concentrations of Src inhibitor PP2, and ERK stimulation was assessed following exposure to each of the two OR ligands. It was found that concentrations of 2040 µM PP2 had opposite effects on ERK activation by the dual efficacy ligand and the agonist. Although the effect of TICP was blocked (Fig. 6A), that of DPDPE was enhanced, and it was only at a concentration of 80 µM that PP2 interfered with ERK activation by DPDPE (Fig. 6B). The inhibitory effect of low, specific concentrations of PP2 on the response to TICP is compatible with the notion that this drug induces ERK activation in a Src-dependent manner. On the other hand, the higher nonspecific concentrations needed to block the effect of DPDPE do not allow us to conclusively implicate Src as an intermediate in agonist-induced ERK stimulation. So, to overcome this problem of specificity, ERK activation by DPDPE was re-assessed by transfecting cells with increasing concentrations of a kinase-impaired Src mutant (K296R/Y528F). This procedure generated a similar biphasic pattern as described for PP2, with low levels of the mutant (0.250.5 µg of DNA) enhancing DPDPE responses and higher levels (3 µg of DNA) inhibiting ERK activation by the agonist. The observed inhibition of DPDPE responses by high levels of inactive Src confirms the idea that activity of this kinase is necessary for ERK activation by agonists and is consistent with previous reports showing that pharmacological inhibition of Src interfered with agonist-induced ERK activation (27).
On the other hand, the fact that low levels of mutant Src or modest concentrations of PP2 enhanced ERK activation by DPDPE suggest that Src could also be involved in the negative regulation of agonist signaling. This possibility was assessed by pretreating cells with DPDPE (1 µM for 30 min) in the presence or absence of PP2 and by then assessing the ability of SNC-80 to induce GTP 35S binding. By itself, PP2 (20 µM for 1 h) enhanced the ability of SNC-80 (100 nM) to promote GTP 35S binding (controls: 169 ± 17 fmol/mg; PP2: 209 ± 17 fmol/mg; p < 0.05; Fig. 7A), but this effect was accompanied by a marked increase in basal nucleotide binding (controls: 86 ± 9 fmol/mg; PP2: 128 ± 17 fmol/mg; p < 0.05, Fig. 7A). Therefore, to avoid any possible confounding, subsequent comparisons of the ability of SNC-80 to promote GTP 35S binding were expressed as percentage changes with respect to the corresponding non-stimulated condition under study. As shown in Fig. 7B, the efficacy of SNC-80 to induce nucleotide binding was greatly reduced following pre-treatment with DPDPE. However, if PP2 was introduced into the incubation medium before DPDPE, the ability of SNC-80 to induce GTP 35S binding was not significantly modified, confirming that inhibition of Src activity had a protective effect against agonist-induced desensitization.
Finally, to specifically examine whether Src may have contributed to the distinct kinetic profile of ERK activation by DPDPE and TICP, the time course for DPDPE was assessed in presence of 20 µM PP2. In the absence of Src inhibition, ERK phosphorylation by DPDPE had completely disappeared within the first 30 min of incubation. In contrast, in the presence of PP2, ERK activity at 30 min was still 18 ± 5% of the maximal response (which corresponds approximately to a 95% increase above ERK activity in non-stimulated cells; p < 0.01; two-way ANOVA; Fig. 7C). Moreover, PP2 had a stabilizing effect on ERK activation by DPDPE, because following 1-h incubation with the agonist, phosphorylation of the kinase was not significantly changed from the value observed 30 min before (16 ± 5% of maximal).
The present study provides new insight into the regulation of agonistic responses induced by double efficacy ligands. In particular, results presented indicate that when occupied by this type of dual ligands ORs elude phosphorylation and induce prolonged activation of the ERK cascade. These properties contrast with those of highly efficacious agonists, whose activation of the ERK cascade is transient and correlated with heavy phosphorylation and degradation of the receptor.
ERK was activated not only by drugs like SNC-80, DPDPE, TIPP, and morphine, which also produced agonistic effects in the cyclase pathway, but also by ligands like TICP and ICI174864 that stimulated ERK activity despite displaying inverse agonist behavior in cAMP accumulation assays (Fig. 1, A and B). Inverse agonists are commonly thought to produce their actions via an inactive receptor conformation that precludes G protein signaling (12, 13). However, it is improbable that activation of the ERK cascade by TICP or ICI174864 could be due to inhibition of spontaneous Gi/o signaling, because the inactivation of Gi/o proteins by PTX failed to produce any effect on ERK activity (Fig. 1C). Moreover, the fact that PTX abolished ERK activation by TICP indicates that, similar to agonists, ERK activation by dual efficacy
The fact that TICP could stimulate Gi/o proteins to activate ERK signaling and simultaneously block Gi/o activity regulating the cyclase pathway may be explained by the fact that
Consistent with the idea that classic agonists and dual efficacy ligands may stabilize
The observations that receptors stabilized by DPDPE but not those occupied by TICP incorporated [32P] (Fig. 3A) and were a target for the tyrosine kinase Src (Fig. 5, A and B), further support the idea that
Phosphorylation of Ser/Thr residues in the C-tail of Although inhibition of internalization slowed down the decay of ERK activity induced by the agonist, the response never attained the characteristic sustained profile observed for ERK activation by TICP (Fig. 2A). This incapacity to recreate the complete "phenotype" of TICP stimulation, together with the fact that DPDPE produced a very transient activation of ERK in the truncated mutant, suggested that mechanisms different from phosphorylation of the C terminus could also contribute to the distinct kinetics of ERK stimulation by DPDPE and TICP.
Because only DPDPE stabilized
The interpretation that Src may have contributed to determine the transient kinetics of ERK activation by DPDPE is supported by the fact that PP2 had a stabilizing effect on ERK stimulation by the agonist. Indeed, although PP2 had no significant effect on the decay t
In conclusion, this study showed that the agonistic responses of dual efficacy ligands for
* This work was supported in part by Grant MOP-57910 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a grant from Fonds de Recherche en Santé de Québec (FRSQ). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 The abbreviations used are:
We thank G. Lamothe and K. Huard for their technical assistance.
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