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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 40, 29730-29738, October 6, 2006
Growth Factor-dependent AKT Activation and Cell Migration Requires the Function of c-K(B)-Ras Versus Other Cellular Ras Isoforms*From the Department of Cell Biology, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44195
Received for publication, January 23, 2006 , and in revised form, August 11, 2006.
K-Ras-negative fibroblasts are defective in their steady-state expression of MMP-2. This occurs through c-K(B)-Ras dependent regulation of basal levels of AKT activity. In this report, we have extended those studies to demonstrate that in the absence of K-Ras expression, PDGF-BB fails to induce significant AKT activation, although this was not the case in N-Ras-negative cells. This phenotype was directly linked to PDGF-dependent cell migration. All of the independently immortalized K-Ras-negative cells failed to migrate upon the addition of PDGF. Only ectopic expression of c-K(B)-Ras, not c-K(A)-Ras nor oncogenic N-Ras, could restore both PDGF-dependent AKT activation and cell migration. Since most Ras binding partners can interact with all Ras isoforms, the specificity of PDGF-dependent activation of AKT and enhanced cell migration suggests that these outcomes are likely to be regulated through a c-K(B)-Ras-specific binding partner. Others have published that of the four Ras isoforms, only K(B)-Ras can form a stable complex with calmodulin (CaM). Along those lines, we provide evidence that 1) PDGF addition results in increased levels of a complex between c-K(B)-Ras and CaM and 2) the biological outcomes that are strictly dependent on c-K(B)-Ras (AKT activation and cell migration) are blocked by CaM antagonists. The PDGF-dependent activation of ERK is unaffected by the absence of K(B)-Ras and presence of CaM antagonists. This is the first example of a linkage between a specific biological outcome, cell migration, and the activity of a single Ras isoform, c-K(B)-Ras.
Cell migration is the process through which cells detach from their extracellular substratum and move in a directional fashion, usually toward a specific chemoattractant or to fill a wound. This generally involves polarization of the cell and orientation toward the direction of cell migration. Following polarization, cells put out lamellipodia and filopodia, forming new focal contacts in the direction of movement. These focal contacts then engage the intracellular actin network, which has been reorganized to accommodate cell movement. The connection between focal contacts and the intracellular actin network provide the traction necessary for movement. This is then accompanied by release of the "rear" of the cells from the extracellular matrix. The molecular events involved in many of these steps have been well characterized and are regulated by members of the Ras superfamily, those being the Rho family of GTPases, Rac, Rho, and Cdc42 (13). Reports suggest that PI4 3-kinase activation is upstream of the Rho family of GTPases in the PDGF-dependent pathway that regulates cell motility (4, 5). Other reports place PI 3-kinase activation downstream of these GTPases (6). These reports can be reconciled by the idea put forth by Weiner et al. (7). Their data suggest the existence of a positive feedback loop between phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate and Rho in which phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate and the Rho GTPase function both upstream and downstream from one another. In their model, increasing the levels of phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate may serve to both polarize cells and regulate Rho activity, which in turn may result in the activation of an additional subcellular PI 3-kinase pool (7). It is clear, however, that activation of both PI 3-kinase and AKT are critical events in the migratory machinery (814). Although the mechanism of AKT activation is incompletely understood, growth factor-dependent activation of AKT is thought to occur through the Ras-dependent activation of PI 3-kinase, followed by the activation of at least PDK1 (15, 16).
The Ras family of GTPases (Ha-, N-, K(A)-, and K(B)-Ras) control many cellular processes, inclusive of those involved in proliferation, transformation, differentiation, metastasis, and apoptosis. Ras mutations occur in
The identification of a second, regulatory Ras-GTP binding site on SOS has raised the possibility of Ras isoform cooperativity. This second Ras binding site on SOS is distal to the exchange site. This distal site binds only Ras-GTP and results in increased SOS-dependent exchange activity (24). This opens up the possibility that a single activated Ras molecule can trigger other Ras isoforms through its up-regulation of SOS activity. Therefore, it is essential that we have a better understanding of each cellular Ras isoform so that we may appropriately assign function(s) to both the cellular and oncogenic gene products in regulating specific biological outcomes that contribute to oncogenicity. We have found that plasma membrane-associated c-N-Ras is in a steady-state complex with Raf-1 and protein kinase C
Cell LinesStable mouse fibroblast cell lines were generated from K-Ras knock-out and control embryo fibroblasts as previously described (26, 27). All cell lines were maintained in DMEM plus 10% fetal calf serum. MaterialsRecombinant PDGF-BB was obtained from Oncogene Research Products. Lipofectamine and PLUS reagents were from Invitrogen. Transwell plates were purchased from Costar. Vectashield mounting medium with DAPI was from Vector Laboratories, Inc. CHAPS and bovine serum albumin were from U.S. Biochemical Corp. Pharmacological InhibitorsW12, W13, calmidazolium, BAPTA-AM, LY294002, PD98059, and AKT inhibitor were from Calbiochem. U73122 [GenBank] and U73343 [GenBank] were obtained from Biomol. Treatments with pharmacological inhibitors were performed 30 min before PDGF-BB challenge.
AntibodiesAntibodies against ERK, pERK, K-Ras, N-Ras, anti-v-H-Ras antibody (Y13-238), pPDGFR- Transfection and SelectionAll transfections were performed with Lipofectamine and PLUS reagents as per the manufacturer's recommendations (Invitrogen). After transfection, G418-resistant clones were selected for growth in 800 µg/ml G418. The expression of target proteins was detected by immunoblotting. Cell Migration AssayThe surfaces of the multiporous membrane of transwell inserts (Corning) were coated with 200 µg of collagen to help cell attachment. The liquid was allowed to dry overnight under a laminar flood hood. The wells were washed with phosphate-buffered saline before use. Cells were trypsinized and suspended in DMEM without fetal bovine serum and washed once with DMEM plus 0.1% bovine serum albumin. 2 x 105 cells were suspended in 200 µl of DMEM + 0.1% bovine serum albumin and loaded onto the top of each insert membrane. 800 µl of DMEM + 0.1% bovine serum albumin was then added to each well, and the cells were cultured in the absence of serum for the following 6 h. Cells were stimulated with PDGF-BB to induce cell migration by adding PDGF-BB basolaterally at the indicated concentrations. After an overnight incubation, the cells remaining on the top of the multiporous membrane were carefully removed with cotton swabs. The migrated cells on the bottom surface of the membrane were fixed with 4% formaldehyde in phosphate-buffered saline. The migrated cells were stained using Vectashield mounting medium with DAPI and observed under a fluorescent microscope. Images were taken, and the number of cells in three random fields was quantitated using Image Pro Plus software.
Preparation of Cell LysatesAfter treatment, cells were immediately submerged in excess (24 liters) ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline. Cells were scraped and collected by centrifugation (500 x g for 5 min). The cell pellet was resuspended in 1Xp21 lysis buffer (20 mM MOPS, 5 mM MgCl2, 0.1 mM EDTA, 200 mM sucrose (pH 7.4) containing 1% CHAPS, phosphatase and protease inhibitors (30 mM ImmunoblottingLysates containing equal amounts of protein (100 µg unless otherwise specified) were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Hybond P; Amersham Biosciences). The membrane was blocked with Blocker Casein in phosphate-buffered saline (Pierce) containing 2% newborn calf serum (Invitrogen). The washed blots were incubated with primary antibodies (1:1000) for 23 h at room temperature or overnight at 4 °C. Following washing in TBS, 0.1% Tween, the blots were incubated with horseradish peroxidase-labeled secondary antibodies (1:1,000) for 1 h at room temperature. After washing, the signals were detected using standard enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) techniques. The signals were quantitated using a Microtek scanner and NIH Image 1.60b7 and normalized to untreated controls.
ImmunoprecipitationThe cells were lysed in 1Xp21 lysis buffer containing 100 nM CaCl2. The indicated antibodies (5 µg) were precoupled to Protein G/A-Sepharose beads for 1 h. The precoupled Protein G/A-Sepharose beads were incubated with cell lysate (800 µg) for 3 h (4 °C). The beads were washed three times with 1Xp21 lysis buffer containing 100 nM CaCl2 and 15 mM MgCl2.2x sample buffer was added (80 µl), and the samples were heated (100 °C, for 15 min) and analyzed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting.
AKT Activity AssayThe AKT activity in each sample was determined using the AKT activity assay kit from Cell Signaling Technology. Briefly, cells were lysed in 1x cell lysis buffer. An overnight immunoprecipitation (800 µg) of AKT was performed with a mouse anti-AKT antibody. An in vitro kinase assay was performed using GSK-3 fusion protein as the substrate. The amount of phosphorylated GSK-3 was detected by immunoblotting for phospho-GSK-3
Migration Assay with siRNA TreatmentCells were transfected in Opti-MEM (Invitrogen) with 300 nM SMARTpool siRNA against PLC-
K-Ras-negative Fibroblasts Show Defects in PDGF-BB-induced Activation of AKT but Not ERK Previous data from this laboratory documented that c-N-Ras is the preferential binding partner of Raf-1, even in the presence of an oncogenic Ha-Ras protein. Down-regulation of c-N-Ras resulted in the parallel decrease in ERK activation in Ha-Ras transformed fibroblasts (25, 29, 30). These observations suggested to us that other c-Ras isoforms might regulate growth factor-dependent activation of non-Raf-1-dependent signaling mechanisms. To explore this possibility, we tested whether K-Ras-negative (expressing c-N-Ras, not c-Ha-Ras, c-K(A)-Ras, nor c-K(B)-Ras (26)) cells were defective in the growth factor-dependent activation of AKT. In the absence of c-K-Ras, murine fibroblasts demonstrated a significantly decreased phosphorylation of AKT compared with wild-type cells when challenged with either PDGF-BB or EGF (Figs. 1, A and B). This appears to be an isoform-specific event, given that N-Ras-negative cells activated AKT in a manner identical to the control cells when exposed to PDGF-BB (Fig. 1A) and EGF (data not shown). All of the cell lines possess roughly equivalent amounts of total AKT (Fig. 1A). The data shown in Fig. 1A suggest that not only do the K-Ras-negative cells only activate AKT to a minimal degree upon a growth factor challenge; they also possess significantly reduced levels of steady-state AKT activity. This supports our previous work demonstrating a specific K-Ras requirement to generate MMP-2 through the steady-state regulation of AKT activity (26). Control experiments revealed normal levels of PDGFR phosphorylation and activation of the ERK pathway in the K-Ras-negative cells (Fig. 1, C and D). These data suggest that the PDGFR tyrosine-phosphorylated docking sites and the PDGF-dependent activation of ERK, through Raf-1, are intact in the K-Ras-negative fibroblasts.
The data in Fig. 1 demonstrate that the PDGF-BB- and EGF-dependent phosphorylation of AKT requires the presence of at least one isoform of c-K-Ras. To identify the isoform, we challenged wild-type fibroblasts (K+/+), K-Ras-negative fibroblasts (K/), and fibroblasts restored with either Myc-tagged c-K(A) or Myc-tagged c-K(B) or those expressing an oncogenic N-Ras (K61N) with 2 ng/ml PDGF-BB for 5 min (Fig. 1E). Phosphorylation of AKT was determined by Western analysis of cell lysates. Neither the K-Ras-negative, c-K(A) restored, or K-Ras-negative cells expressing an oncogenic N-Ras produced robust phosphorylation of AKT. The c-K(B)-restored cell lines, however, phosphorylated AKT similar to the control cells upon PDGF addition. These data demonstrate that c-K(B)-Ras is necessary for PDGF-BB-dependent phosphorylation of AKT. These data also demonstrate that oncogenic N-Ras does not substitute for c-K-Ras in promoting PDGF-induced AKT activation, suggesting that the expression of an oncogenic Ras protein does not necessarily mimic the functions of all other Ras isoforms.
K-Ras Knock-out Mouse Fibroblasts Showed Defects in PDGF-BB-dependent Cell MigrationActivation of AKT is an essential component in the cell migration machinery (814). We designed experiments to test whether PDGF-dependent cell migration specifically required c-K(B)-Ras function. We first set out to optimize a migration assay based on the addition of PDGF to quiescent cells. We used a standard Boyden chamber assay, as described under "Experimental Procedures." Cells were plated on collagen-coated wells in the morning in serum-free medium with PDGF added at the indicated concentrations in late afternoon. The following day, the nonmigrated cells were removed, and the migrated cells were DAPI-stained and quantitated microscopically. The data shown in Fig. 2, A and B, demonstrate the number of migrating cells increases linearly with respect to increasing PDGF to PDGF Stimulation Enhances the Formation of a CaM-K-Ras Complex That Requires CalciumThe selectivity for c-K(B)-Ras in both PDGF-dependent activation of AKT and enhanced cell migration suggests that c-K(B)-Ras signals these events through a unique binding partner. Others have shown that each Ras isoform is able to bind any of the well characterized putative target molecules (20). We have also shown that overexpression of oncogenic Ha-Ras can promiscuously signal through Raf-1, although c-N-Ras is constitutively associated with Raf-1 at the plasma membrane (25, 29, 30). The inability of oncogenic N-Ras to substitute for c-K(B)-Ras function suggests that c-K(B)-Ras regulates AKT activation and cell migration through a unique target that fails to bind to N-Ras. c-K(B)-Ras and CaM (calmodulin) form a stable, GTP-dependent complex (3133). Other Ras isoforms are unable to form a similar complex with CaM (31), making the interaction between c-K(B)-Ras and CaM a likely candidate for the target that mediates PDGF-dependent AKT activation and cell migration through c-K(B)-Ras. We then tested, therefore, for a PDGF-enhanced stable complex between endogenous K-Ras and CaM by co-immunoprecipitation (Fig. 3). We used the rat monoclonal antibody, Y13-238, that has been reported to immunoprecipitate K-Ras without reacting with endogenous N-Ras (32). Because these cells do not express detectable levels of c-Ha-Ras (26), Y13-238 becomes a K-Ras-specific immunoprecipitating antibody. In addition to Y13-238, we also used the mouse monoclonal antibody specific for K-Ras (clone F234) to test for the presence of K-Ras·CaM complex. Cells were challenged with PDGF-BB for 5 min and lysed, and the soluble lysate was immunoprecipitated with the indicated antibodies. The data shown in Fig. 3, A and B, demonstrate that acute stimulation of cells with PDGF-BB results in the formation of a complex between K-Ras and CaM. This is the first demonstration of a growth factor-mediated complex formation between endogenous CaM and c-K-Ras. The data shown in Fig. 3, A and B, while providing different interpretations of the unstimulated situation, demonstrate in both panels a clear increase in the CaM signal associated with the K-Ras immunoprecipitates following a PDGF challenge. This might result from the two antibodies recognizing different epitopes within c-K(B)-Ras and the possibility that there are significant changes in the constituents of the complex between unstimulated and stimulated. For instance, the data with the mouse K-Ras-specific antibody suggest that there is a K-Ras·CaM complex in the quiescent cell population, similar to our reported detection of a steady-state complex between c-N-Ras and Raf-1 (25). It is possible that the epitope recognized by the rat monoclonal Y13-238 is inaccessible within this complex and becomes available following PDGF stimulation, which might recruit other proteins, such as PI 3-kinase, to the K-Ras·CaM complex.
Others have shown that the association between CaM and K(B)-Ras-GTP is calcium-dependent in in vitro experiments (31). We tested whether increased intracellular calcium was required for the PDGF-dependent increase in abundance of the CaM·K-Ras complex. Cells were preincubated with either BAPTA-AM or the PI 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002, challenged with PDGF, and tested for the presence of CaM in K-Ras-specific immunoprecipitates (Fig. 3C). As in Fig. 3, A and B, challenging cells with PDGF resulted in increased abundance of CaM in the K-Ras immunoprecipitates. This increase was virtually completely blocked by treatment with BAPTA-AM, although no differences were seen with the LY294002 pretreatment. These data suggest that increased intracellular calcium contributes to the PDGF-dependent enhancement of a complex between CaM and K-Ras though being independent of PI 3-kinase activity. This is the first demonstration that growth factor-dependent increases in intracellular calcium contribute to the association between Ras and any of its known binding partners. Growth Factor-dependent Activation of AKT Is Blocked by CaM AntagonistsOur data suggest a coincident link between c-K(B)-Ras, CaM, and the PDGF-dependent activation of AKT. We tested, therefore, whether AKT activation by PDGF-BB and EGF required CaM. We first tested whether the well characterized CaM inhibitor W13 could selectively block AKT activation. ERK activation, which is resistant to the absence of K-Ras isoforms, was used as the internal, negative control. We confirmed, by both Western analysis (Fig. 4A) and an AKT activity assay (Fig. 4B), that W13 potently inhibited PDGF-BB-dependent AKT activation without altering the level of ERK phosphorylation (Fig. 4C). The chemically related, but much less potent, W12 was ineffective in decreasing PDGF-BB-dependent AKT activation (Fig. 4, A and B). The involvement of CaM in the activation of AKT is consistent with previous reports that CaM can directly regulate the activation of PI 3-kinase (34). Treatment of cells with W13 did not alter the levels of PDGFR phosphorylation, including that of Tyr751, the docking site for the p85 regulatory subunit of PI 3-kinase (Fig. 4C). This places CaM function downstream of receptor-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of the PDGFR. Similar experiments revealed that EGF-dependent activation of AKT required CaM function (Fig. 4D). The PI 3-kinase inhibitor, LY294002, was used as a positive control. As expected, pretreatment with LY294002 completely blocked EGF-dependent AKT activation without altering EGF-dependent ERK activation (Fig. 4, D and E). W13 and an unrelated CaM inhibitor, calmidazolium both effectively blocked EGF-dependent AKT activation, paralleling the data obtained with PDGF-dependent AKT activation.
Growth Factor-dependent Activation of AKT Requires Intracellular Calcium and Phospholipase C The results described above suggest that growth factor-dependent activation of AKT requires CaM function. We tested, therefore, whether growth factor-dependent activation of AKT also requires intracellular calcium and phospholipase C activity. Pretreating cells with BAPTA-AM, a cell-permeable calcium chelator, or U73122
[GenBank]
(a phospholipase C inhibitor) was sufficient to block PDGF-dependent AKT activation (Fig. 5, A and B). The chemically related inactive U73343
[GenBank]
did not affect the ability of PDGF to increase AKT phosphorylation (data not shown). Treating cells with either U73122
[GenBank]
or BAPTA-AM did not affect the activation of ERK by either PDGF or EGF (data not shown). These data suggest that the activation of AKT by growth factors requires K(B)-Ras, CaM, and intracellular calcium, probably generated through enhanced phospholipase C activity.
PDGF-dependent Cell Migration Is Abrogated by CaM, Calcium, and Phospholipase C
The distribution of Ras isoforms within specific microdomains of the plasma membrane is not uniform. Ha-Ras is most commonly associated with the cholesterol-enriched caveolar structures, although K-Ras is generally associated with the less organized structures of the plasma membranes (35). N-Ras appears to distribute between caveolar and noncaveolar plasma membrane structures (36). There are now ample published data to suggest that Ras proteins exist in subcellular membrane compartments other than the plasma membrane (3740). These data suggest that each Ras isoform is likely to have multiple functions, dependent on their distribution within specific microdomains and the availability of specific binding partners within these domains. The identification of Ras isoforms within endomembrane structures also suggests that each Ras isoform is expected to possess a number of unique binding partners that are likely to be defined by their colocalization to Ras-containing endomembrane structures. Previous work from this laboratory identified a steady-state complex between c-N-Ras, Raf-1, and protein kinase C at the plasma membrane (25). This complex appears to regulate the activation of Raf-1 and ERKs through receptor-mediated tyrosine kinase activity and was the first specific Ras signaling module identified (25, 30). c-N-Ras distributed to other subcellular locations is likely to possess functions unrelated to the activation of Raf-1 and ERKs.5 These observations suggest that each subcellular Ras isoform-specific pool is predicted to provide a unique function contributing to specific biological outcomes.
Our data support this prediction. Cells failing to express c-K-Ras are completely defective in their migratory responses to PDGF-BB addition. K-Ras-negative cells failed to migrate and activate AKT when challenged with either PDGF or EGF (data not shown). Migratory activity was restored by the expression of c-K(B)-Ras and not c-K(A)-Ras or oncogenic N-Ras, demonstrating that this isoform-specific pathway is necessary for cell motility. The absence of c-K-Ras expression did not compromise PDGF-BB-dependent activation of ERK 1/2, suggesting that c-K-Ras function is not involved in regulating ERK activation. This observation is predictable based on our previous work demonstrating an N-Ras-specific steady-state complex with Raf-1. We also established that c-N-Ras was required for the constitutive activation of Raf-1 and ERKs by the expression of an oncogenic Ha-Ras (29). Not only does c-K(B)-Ras regulate the steady-state level of activated AKT (26), it also appears to be the sole c-Ras isoform that is responsible for the activation of AKT upon a PDGF-BB or EGF challenge.
One of the most interesting and novel aspects of the work described in this report is the inability of oncogenic N-Ras to substitute for c-K(B)-Ras in the PDGF-dependent activation of AKT and increased cell migration. Work by others demonstrates that the majority of Ras binding partners can interact with each of the individual Ras isoforms (20). These experiments were performed in the context of both in vitro and transient overexpression assays. Our previous work documented that c-N-Ras is the preferential target for Raf-1 at the plasma membrane, although overexpression of oncogenic Ha-Ras did form promiscuous complexes with Raf-1 (25, 29). Taken together, these data suggest that overexpression of an oncogenic Ras isoform can signal through common Ras targets. The inability of oncogenic N-Ras, in this case, to substitute for c-K(B)-Ras function suggested that c-K(B)-Ras utilizes a unique binding partner that does not interact with N-Ras. The only Ras binding partner that fits this description is CaM (20, 31). The parallel inhibition of both AKT activation and cell migration by inhibitors of CaM function is consistent with the hypothesis that a c-K(B)-Ras·CaM complex is the driving force behind growth factor-dependent AKT activation. CaM function appears to be unnecessary for cell migration in the absence of PDGF (data not shown). Therefore, the only CaM-dependent interaction present in the control cells compared with the K-Ras-negative cells is that between K(B)-Ras and CaM. This supports the idea that the K(B)-Ras·CaM complex is the missing ingredient in the migratory machinery in the K-Ras-negative cells. We do not, however, interpret this to suggest that, following an acute activation of quiescent cells, all of the c-K(B)-Ras is complexed with CaM and functions only to activate AKT. We feel it is more likely that only a small fraction of the c-K(B)-Ras-GTP binds to CaM. Other pools of newly activated c-K(B)-Ras probably have other binding partners that are dependent on their specific microenvironments. The specificity defined by their microenvironments is likely to reflect not only differences in membrane structure (caveolae versus bulk plasma membrane) but also co-localization of each Ras isoform and their putative binding partners to similar spatial regions within endomembrane structures.
Others have identified a high affinity CaM target sequence conserved in the C-terminal region of all of the p110 isoforms (the catalytic subunit of PI 3-kinase), distal from the N-terminal Ras binding domain within each p110 subunit (41). This would suggest the formation of a complex between c-K(B)-Ras, CaM, and PI 3-kinase, similar to the ternary complex we previously identified between c-N-Ras, Raf-1, and protein kinase C The ability of Ras isoforms to "talk to each other" by the up-regulation of SOS activity through its distal, regulatory Ras-GTP binding sites has added complexity in assigning Ras isoform-specific binding partners and biological outcomes (24). Ras-GTP regulation of SOS activity opens the possibility that expression of an activated Ras isoform, in an attempt to dissect its isoform-specific signaling pathways, could result in cross-talk to endogenous c-Ras proteins, thereby complicating any experimental interpretation. In addition to SOS, the Ras-GRF family of exchange factors can be activated through a calcium/CaM-dependent interaction (43, 44). In a paradigm parallel to that described for SOS, the formation of a PDGF-BB-induced complex between K-Ras and CaM raises the possibility that an effector-bound Ras-GTP molecule might up-regulate the activity of a Ras exchange factor, thereby propagating a "Ras-GTP wave." Overexpression of oncogenic N-Ras is unable to substitute for K(B)-Ras in the regulation of cell migration (Fig. 2D) and MMP-2 expression (data not shown). This report also demonstrates that expression of oncogenic N-Ras in the K-Ras-negative cells also does not restore the ability of these cells to activate AKT upon a PDGF challenge (Fig. 1E). These observations highlight the specificity of specific signaling pathways with each Ras isoform, whether cellular or oncogenic. Expression of a single oncogenic Ras isoform, however, does result in the generation of a fully transformed phenotype, including increased cell migration, AKT, and ERK activity, systems we have documented to be regulated through the actions of distinct Ras isoforms (K(B)-Ras and N-Ras). Since we have also provided data suggesting that overexpression of oncogenic N-Ras does not substitute for c-K(B)-Ras, enhanced cell migration in cells transformed by either an oncogenic Ha-Ras or N-Ras is likely to arise from activation of c-K(B)-Ras induced by the expression of the alternative oncogenic Ras isoform.
* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM62644 (to A. W.), American Heart Association Grant 225321B (to J. L.), and National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Fellowship GM065719 (to S. M. P.). 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 These authors contributed equally to this work.
2 Present address: Dept. of Periodontics and Oral Medicine School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, 3310 M. Dental, 1011 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078. 3 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Cell Biology NC10, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Ave., NC10, Cleveland, OH 44195. Tel.: 216-444-1228; Fax: 216-444-9404; E-mail: wolfmaa{at}ccf.org.
4 The abbreviations used are: PI, phosphatidylinositol; BAPTA-AM, 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; DAPI, 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; CHAPS, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonic acid; MOPS, 4-morpholinepropanesulfonic acid; siRNA, small interfering RNA; PDGFR, PDGF receptor; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; CaM, calmodulin; PLC, phospholipase C; EGF, epidermal growth factor.
5 J. C. Wolfman, S. M. Planchon, and A. Wolfman, unpublished data.
We thank Thomas Patterson for helpful discussions.
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