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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 22, 15328-15338, May 30, 2008
Noonan Syndrome-associated SHP-2/Ptpn11 Mutants Enhance SIRP
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| ABSTRACT |
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50% of NS cases. Despite being activated, NS-associated SHP-2 mutants require plasma membrane proximity to evoke disease-associated signaling. Here we show that NS-associated SHP-2 mutants induce hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of the transmembrane glycoproteins, SIRP
(signal-regulatory protein
) and PZR (protein zero-related), resulting in their increased association with NS-associated SHP-2 mutants. NS-associated SHP-2 mutants enhanced SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation either by impairing SIRP
dephosphorylation or by promoting PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation. Importantly, during embryogenesis in a mouse model of NS, SIRP
and PZR were hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated and bound increased levels of the NS-associated SHP-2 mutant. SIRP
and PZR have been implicated in extracellular matrix-dependent signaling. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts derived from a mouse model of NS displayed enhanced ERK activation in response to fibronectin plating. Knockdown of SIRP
and PZR in these cells attenuated the enhanced activation of ERK following fibronectin plating. Thus, SIRP
and PZR serve as scaffolds that facilitate plasma membrane recruitment and signaling of NS-associated SHP-2 mutants. | INTRODUCTION |
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SHP-2 is the protein product of the PTPN11 gene that is mutated in
50% of Noonan syndrome (NS) cases (8, 9). NS is an autosomal dominant disorder that is estimated to occur in 1:1,000 to 1:2,500 live births in the United States and worldwide (9-11). NS patients are characterized by proportionate short stature, facial dysmorphisms, mental retardation, bleeding diathesis, and cardiovascular defects such as pulmonary stenosis (9-11). In addition, NS patients display hematologic abnormalities, including myeloid disorders and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (9). Most of the disease-associated mutations of SHP-2 have been mapped to the NH2-SH2 domain, whereas other mutations map to either the COOH-SH2 or the PTP domain (8, 12, 13). SHP-2 is maintained in an "inactive" auto-inhibited conformation that is maintained by interactions between the NH2-SH2 domain and the PTP domain (14). Mutations within the SH2-PTP domain interface disrupt intramolecular interactions between these two domains to relieve the autoinhibited conformation resulting in constitutive SHP-2 activation (15). Several NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants are activating, hence conferring gain-of-function properties to SHP-2 (8, 12, 16-20). These observations support the notion that enhanced SHP-2 catalysis is causative to NS and leukemia.
It is now established that in response to a variety of growth factors and cytokines SHP-2 is required for the activation of Src (21-23), Ras/ERK (5, 24-26), and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase/Akt pathways (27-29). In addition, SHP-2 is also responsible for mediating the activation of the Src and Ras/ERK pathways following integrin engagement (21, 30, 31). In response to growth factors and cytokines, the gain-of-function properties of the NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants enhance ERK activation (17-19, 32-34). However, in some cases the NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants fail to enhance ERK activation (18, 35, 36). Such differences might reflect cell type-specific and possibly stimulation-dependent variations in which the NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants operate. Activated and NS-associated SHP-2 mutants have also been shown to increase the calcium oscillatory frequency in fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes, and this correlates with the inhibition of the nuclear factor of activated T-cells in cardiomyocytes (37). In addition, the leukemia-associated mutants of SHP-2 also exhibit enhanced Akt activity (19, 33).
Despite a growing number of signaling pathways that are subject to altered regulation by NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants, the mechanism through which these activated SHP-2 mutations enhance downstream signaling remains to be fully defined. One mechanism through which activated SHP-2 mutants might enhance signaling is by increasing the levels of tyrosyl phosphorylation of their upstream interacting proteins and hence their association and recruitment to locales where signaling is initiated. We first showed that an activated SHP-2 mutant increases tyrosyl phosphorylation of the fibroblast growth factor receptor substrate-2 in response to FGF-2 (38). Similar observations with activated SHP-2 mutants were also found to occur with the Grb2-associated binder-1 (Gab-1), which becomes hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in response EGF (17). As predicted, enhanced tyrosyl phosphorylation of SHP-2-binding proteins results in their increased association with SHP-2 (17, 18, 33). These observations suggest that binding and thus localization of the NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants play an important role in disease-mediated signaling. This notion is supported by the observation that disruption of Gab-2 binding by mutation of the critical arginine within the SH2 domain of the leukemogenic E76K SHP-2 mutant abrogates cellular transformation (19).
In this study, we show that NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants interact with, and induce hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of, the transmembrane glycoproteins SIRP
(signal regulatory protein
) and PZR (protein zero-related). We show that in mice harboring an NS-associated SHP-2 mutant, both SIRP
and PZR are hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated. Fibroblasts derived from these mice also exhibited increased SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation. The enhanced ERK activation in response to adhesion was predominantly mediated by SIRP
, with PZR playing less of a role. These results raise the possibility that SIRP
and PZR serve as scaffold proteins for NS/leukemia-associated mutants and may thus play a role in the pathogenesis of these diseases.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Plasmids and Primers—pIRES-GFP expression plasmids encoding WT SHP-2 and Glu-76 to Ala-76 (E76A) were described previously (38). SHP-2 containing mutations at Asp-61 to Ala-61 (D61A), Glu-69 to Lys-69 (E69K), Asn-308 to Asp-308 (N308D), and E76A containing an Arg-465 to Met-465 (R465M/E76A) mutation were generated by site-directed mutagenesis and verified by automated sequencing. The tandem NH2 and COOH-SH2 domains (amino acids 1-215) were subcloned into a GST fusion expression vector (pEBG) to generate pEBG-SH2 by PCR using BamHI and NotI with the primers 5'-CGC GGA TCC ATG ACA TCG CGG AGA TGG-3' and 5'-ATA GTT TAG CGG CCG CTC AGG GCT GCT TGA GTT GTA G-3'. Mammalian plasmids expressing PZR (pCDNA3-PZR-WT) and SIRP
(pJ3-SIRP
) were provided by Dr. Joe Zhao (University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City) and Dr. Benjamin Neel (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston), respectively. Mice were genotyped as described previously (18).
Adenoviral Infections—Replication-defective recombinant WT and activated E76A SHP-2 adenoviruses have been described previously (38). Adenoviruses were amplified in 293 cells and purified according to the manufacturer's instructions (Quantum-Appligene).
Transient Transfections—C2C12 cells were transfected with the indicated plasmids using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen), and SYF cells were transfected using FuGENE transfection reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions (Roche Applied Science). For siRNA transfections, 100,000 MEFs derived from the D61G NS knock-in mice (18) were plated onto 60-mm tissue culture plates 1 day prior to transfection and were transfected with either 50 nM SIRP
siRNA (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), 25 nM PZR siRNA (Dharmacon), or control nontargeting siRNA (Dharmacon and/or Santa Cruz Biotechnology) using Lipofectamine RNAiMAX reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. 24 h after transfection cells were serum-deprived (0.1% FBS/DMEM) over-night, and the cells were trypsinized for re-plating onto fibronectin-coated Petri dishes.
Immunoprecipitations and Immunoblot Analyses—Cells were lysed on ice in 1% Nonidet P-40 buffer (Calbiochem) containing 150 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 5 mM EDTA, 1% Nonidet P-40, 1 mM Na3VO4, 10 mM NaF, 1 mM benzamidine, 1 mM PMSF, 1 µg/ml pepstatin A, 5 µg/ml aprotinin, and 5 µg/ml leupeptin. Where indicated cells were lysed in modified radio-immunoprecipitation assay buffer, containing 1% Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer supplemented with 1% sodium deoxycholate and 0.1% SDS. E12.5-14.5 embryos were obtained from timed pregnancies and lysed by homogenizing (20 strokes) in 1% Triton X-100, 0.1% SDS, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 20 mM HEPES, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 10% glycerol, 2 mM EDTA, 10 mM NaF, 1 mM Na3VO4, 1 mM PMSF, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM benzamidine, 1 µg/ml pepstatin A, 5 µg/ml leupeptin, and 5 µg/ml aprotinin. Cell or embryo lysates were rocked at 4 °C for 15-20 min and clarified by centrifugation at 20,800 x g at 4 °C for 20 min. Protein concentration was determined using the Bradford assay or BCA reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions (Pierce). For immunoprecipitations, 500-1,000 µg of lysate was incubated with 4 µg of SHP-2 polyclonal antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), 1 µl of PZR polyclonal antibody (antisera 105(6) or 189(14) provided by Dr. Joe Zhao), 2 µl of SIRP
polyclonal antibody (provided by Dr. Benjamin Neel), and 2 µg of Src (GD11) monoclonal antibody (BD Transduction Laboratories) for 3 h or overnight at 4 °C. Immune complexes were collected on either protein A- or G-Sepharose (GE Healthcare). Immune complexes were washed three times with either 1% Nonidet P-40 or Triton X-100 lysis buffer containing 1 mM Na3VO4 and 10 mM NaF and once with STE buffer (100 mM NaCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 1 mM EDTA), and beads were heated to 95 °C in sample buffer (62.5 mM Tris, pH 6.8, 4% glycerol, 2% SDS, 5% β-mercaptoethanol, and 0.02% bromphenol blue) for 5 min.
For immunoblotting, lysates or immune complexes were resolved by SDS-PAGE and transferred onto Immobilon-P membranes (Millipore). All primary antibodies were used by first blocking membranes with 5% nonfat dry milk or 5% BSA in Tris-buffered saline/Tween 20 (TBS-T) for 1 h at room temperature or overnight at 4 °C. Primary antibodies were diluted in 2.5% nonfat dried milk in TBS-T or 2.5% BSA in TBS-T. Mouse monoclonal SHP-2 antibody (BD Transduction Laboratories) was used at a 1:1,000 dilution. Anti-PZR antibody (105(6)) was used at a 1:5,000 dilution. SIRP
polyclonal antibody was used at a 1:5,000 dilution; monoclonal anti-phosphotyrosine (4G10) antibody was used at a 1:50 dilution; rabbit polyclonal phospho-p44/42 MAPK antibody (Cell Signaling Technology) was used at a 1:1,000 dilution; and rabbit polyclonal ERK1/2 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) antibody was used at a 1:4,000 dilution. Monoclonal c-Src (GD11, Upstate Biotechnology, Inc.) antibody was used at a 1:1,000 dilution, and polyclonal phospho-Src Tyr-416 antibody (Cell Signaling Technology) was used at a 1:500 dilution. Primary antibodies were either used at room temperature for 2 h or overnight at 4 °C. After primary antibody incubations, membranes were washed in TBS-T and incubated in secondary anti-rabbit Ig horseradish peroxidase-linked donkey antibody or anti-mouse Ig horseradish peroxidase-linked sheep antibody (GE Healthcare) for 1 h at room temperature. After secondary antibody incubations, membranes were washed in TBS-T and visualized by using enhanced chemiluminescence reagents (Amersham Biosciences).
Immune Complex Phosphatase Assays—C2C12 cells transfected with the indicated expression plasmids were lysed in 1% Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer 24 h after transfection, and cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with anti-SHP-2 polyclonal antibody overnight at 4 °C. Immune complexes were captured by incubation with protein A-Sepharose and were washed several times with lysis buffer containing 10 mM NaF, once with STE buffer, and once with phosphatase assay buffer (24 mM HEPES, pH 7.4, 120 mM NaCl). Phosphatase assay buffer containing 10 mM para-nitrophenyl phosphate and 5 mM dithiothreitol was added to the immune complexes and incubated at 37 °C for 30 min. Reactions were stopped by addition of 1.45 ml of 0.2 N NaOH, and the absorbance at 405 nm was measured.
Cell Adhesion Assays—Petri dishes were coated with fibronectin (5 µg/ml) diluted in PBS for 1-2 h at 37 °C and were blocked with 1% BSA in PBS for 30 min at 37 °C. WT and D61G MEFs or D61G MEFs treated with siRNA were serum-deprived overnight and were detached by 0.05% trypsin/EDTA and neutralized with 0.5 mg/ml soybean trypsin inhibitor solution in DMEM. Cells were washed in serum-free DMEM containing 0.1% BSA, held in suspension for 30 min at 37 °C under a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2, and were re-plated (575,000 cells per 60-mm dish) onto either 1% BSA blocked Petri dishes (suspension) or fibronectin-coated Petri dishes. Cells were harvested at the indicated times by washing twice in ice-cold PBS and lysing as indicated above.
For quantification of adhesion, wells of a 96-well plate (Linbro-Titertek) were coated with the indicated concentrations of fibronectin in triplicate. Serum-deprived cells were trypsinized and washed in serum-free DMEM containing 0.1% BSA. 20,000 cells/well were plated and allowed to attach for 30 min at 37 °C. The attached cells were washed once with PBS, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde solution in PBS for 20 min at room temperature, and stained with 0.5% crystal violet solution in 20% methanol for at least 1 h. Crystal violet was extracted with 10% acetic acid and was measured in a multiple well plate reader at 562 nm.
Cell Migration Assay—Migration of WT and D61G MEFs was quantified using a transwell migration assay. The bottom side of the transwell insert membrane (8 µm pore size, Costar) was coated with 5 µg/ml of fibronectin in triplicate at 37 °C for 1 h and blocked with 1% BSA solution. Cells were trypsinized and washed as described above, plated at a density of 5,000 cells per well, and allowed to migrate for 5 h in a humidified incubator at 37 °C. The cells that had migrated were washed once in PBS, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS, and stained with 0.5% crystal violet solution. After the cells on top of the transwell insert membrane were scraped with cotton tips, the cells remaining on the bottom of the membrane were photographed in four fields/well using a 5x objective and cells were counted using NIH Image J software.
| RESULTS |
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We first began by generating four distinct activated SHP-2 mutants; the N308D mutation represents the most common mutation in NS (39); E69K and E76A mutations are associated with leukemia (39), and D61A is a molecular gain-of-function mutation (15) (Fig. 1A). These mutants were expressed transiently in C2C12 cells, and immune complex phosphatase assays were performed (Fig. 1B). Cells expressing these activated SHP-2 mutants, as expected (15, 16, 20, 35, 40), exhibited levels of phosphatase activity greater than that of WT overexpressing cells (Fig. 1B). The activated SHP-2 mutant expressing cells displayed varying levels of enhanced phosphatase activity with a rank order of E69K
E76A > N308D
D61A (Fig. 1B). Next, C2C12 cells cultured either under 10% FBS or 0.1% FBS conditions were transiently transfected with WT, D61A, N308D, or E76A activated SHP-2 mutants, and SHP-2 immune complexes derived from these cell lysates were immunoblotted with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies (Fig. 1C). Cells expressing the activated SHP-2 mutants were found under proliferative conditions to interact with two tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins that migrated with apparent molecular masses of 120 and 40 kDa, referred to herein as p120 and p40 proteins, respectively. In contrast, WT expressing cells failed to interact appreciably with either p120 or p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins (Fig. 1C). WT and SHP-2 activated mutants were comparably expressed (Fig. 1C), indicating that these activated SHP-2 mutants either enhance tyrosyl phosphorylation levels and/or interaction with the p120 and p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins.
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and PZR Are Targets for Hypertyrosyl Phosphorylation by Activated SHP-2 Mutants—We next set out to identify the SHP-2-associated p120 and p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins. Based on our previous observations, as well as those of others, we noted that the broad nature of the SHP-2-associated phosphotyrosyl p120 protein was reminiscent of the SHP-2-binding protein known as SIRP
, which also migrates with an apparent molecular mass between 110 and 120 kDa (41-44). SIRP
is a transmembrane glycoprotein containing three immunoglobulin-like domains extracellularly, and four tyrosine residues intracellularly, two of which exist in context of an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (45, 46). SIRP
was initially identified as a substrate and binding protein for SHP-2 (42, 43, 47), and it has been implicated in a number of signaling events, including the regulation of the extracellular-regulated kinases (ERKs) 1 and 2, cell motility, and adhesion-mediated integrin signaling (31, 46, 48, 49). We tested whether SIRP
constitutes a component of the SHP-2-associated tyrosyl-phosphorylated p120 protein upon expression of the activated SHP-2 mutants.
The activated SHP-2 mutant enhanced the association of SHP-2 with the p120 and p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins using adenovirus-mediated delivery to express WT and E76A (Fig. 2A). When immunoprecipitated, SIRP
was tyrosyl-phosphorylated to a greater extent in E76A as compared with WT expressing cells (Fig. 2B). We next determined whether SIRP
is, or constitutes a component of, the SHP-2-associated p120 tyrosyl-phosphorylated protein. To test this, we immunodepleted SIRP
from the lysates of cells infected with adenoviruses expressing GFP as a control, WT, or E76A followed by immunoprecipitation of SHP-2. When SIRP
was immunodepleted from these cell lysates followed by immunoprecipitation of SHP-2, the p120 tyrosyl-phosphorylated protein was depleted from these complexes as compared with the preimmune control immunodepletion (Fig. 2C). Both E76A and N308D SHP-2 mutants not only induced hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
, but also this was accompanied by increased levels of associated SHP-2 (Fig. 2D). These data identify SIRP
as the major component of the SHP-2-associated tyrosyl-phosphorylated p120 protein in cells expressing an activated SHP-2 mutant.
Next, we sought to identify the SHP-2-associated p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated protein. Although a number of tyrosylphosphorylated SHP-2-interacting proteins have been identified, one of these proteins migrates with a molecular mass of
40 kDa and is known as PZR. Like SIRP
, PZR is also a transmembrane glycoprotein containing a single immunoglobulin-like domain extracellularly and two immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs intracellularly (50). PZR was also shown to interact directly with SHP-2 and was suggested to be an SHP-2 substrate (51). To determine whether PZR constituted a component of the SHP-2-associated p40 tyrosyl-phosphorylated protein complex, C2C12 cells were infected with adenoviruses expressing GFP, WT, or E76A, and tyrosyl phosphorylation of PZR was determined. These experiments revealed that PZR was hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in E76A as compared with WT expressing cells (Fig. 3A). We attempted to perform immunodepletion experiments to determine to what extent PZR contributed to the SHP-2-associated p40 complex. However, PZR antibodies were incapable of immunodepleting cell lysates of PZR effectively. Regardless, these results still suggest that at least a component of the SHP-2-associated p40 phosphotyrosyl protein is PZR. The ability of PZR to undergo enhanced association with SHP-2 upon expression of the activated SHP-2 mutants was evaluated. Transient expression of either N308D or E76A resulted in increased association of SHP-2 with PZR (Fig. 3B). Unlike SIRP
, where a number of reports have shown that it becomes tyrosyl-phosphorylated in response to growth factors, cytokines, and cell adhesion, the physiological stimuli that regulate PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation are unknown. When PZR was immunoprecipitated from cells that were stimulated with EGF, FGF-2, insulin-like growth factor-1, and serum, we found that it was not inducibly tyrosyl-phosphorylated, although a slight increase in PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation was observed in response to PDGF (Fig. 3C). In contrast, PZR was inducibly tyrosyl-phosphorylated upon fibronectin plating (Fig. 3D). These results demonstrate that PZR, like SIRP
, becomestyrosyl-phosphorylated in response to adhesion-dependent signals.
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and PZR Are Targets for Enhanced Tyrosyl Phosphorylation and SHP-2 Recruitment in D61G Knock-in Mice—To determine whether SIRP
and/or PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation by activated SHP-2 mutants might have pathophysiological relevance to NS, we asked whether these transmembrane glycoproteins were hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated during embryogenesis in mice harboring a knock-in mutation of the NS-associated SHP-2 D61G mutation (18). Whole embryos were isolated from pregnant females between embryonic days 12.5 and 14.5. Extracts from WT and heterozygous (Ptpn11D61G/+) embryos were subjected to immunoprecipitation for SHP-2, and the phosphatase activity was determined. The phosphatase activity of SHP-2 was
3-fold more active in Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos as compared with WT embryos (data not shown). Remarkably, SHP-2 co-immunoprecipitated with an identical profile of hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated associated proteins from Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos as in transient cell culture experiments (Fig. 4A). Moreover, SIRP
and PZR were hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated, and this correlated with enhanced SHP-2 binding in Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos as compared with WT embryos (Fig. 4, B and C). We quantitated the levels of SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation in individual WT and Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos (Fig. 4D). This analysis showed an increase in the distribution of Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos expressing elevated levels of tyrosyl-phosphorylated SIRP
(Fig. 4D, left panel) and PZR (Fig. 4D, right panel) as compared with WT embryos. These results demonstrate that SIRP
and PZR are hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in vivo and constitute preferential SHP-2-interacting proteins during embryogenesis in Ptpn11D61G/+ knock-in mice.
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and PZR Hypertyrosyl Phosphorylation in a c-Src-independent Manner—SHP-2 has been shown to be upstream of the Src family kinases (SFKs) (5, 21-23). In addition, both SIRP
and PZR contain immunoreceptor tyrosine inhibitory motifs, which are established SFK substrate motifs. Therefore, the activated SHP-2 mutants might induce SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation by activating the SFKs. Therefore, we determined whether c-Src activity is increased in Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos. Whole embryo lysates were prepared from WT and Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos, and c-Src Tyr-416 phosphorylation, which is representative of the active form of c-Src, was determined. We found that c-Src phosphorylation levels were unaltered in Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos as compared with WT embryos (Fig. 5A). These results demonstrate that c-Src is unlikely to be a major target of the D61G NS mutant during embryogenesis that is responsible for either SIRP
or PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation. However, this result does not exclude the possibility that more discrete tissue-specific activation of the SFKs in Ptpn11D61G/+ mice occurs. Another possibility is that SFKs other than c-Src might be targets for activated SHP-2 mutants that mediate SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation. To test other SFK members, fibroblasts lacking Src, Yes, and Fyn (SYFs) were transiently transfected with vector, WT, and three activated SHP-2 mutants. We found that all activated SHP-2 mutants were still capable of enhancing tyrosyl phosphorylation of the SHP-2-associated p120/SIRP
and p40/PZR proteins (Fig. 5B). Hence, the activated SHP-2 mutants appear to induce SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation in a c-Src-independent manner.
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and PZR Hypertyrosyl Phosphorylation by Activated SHP-2 Mutants—One possible explanation for why the activated SHP-2 mutants induced hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR could be related to the open conformation of these mutants. When activated, the open conformation of SHP-2 is presumed to have increased availability to bind through its SH2 domains to tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins resulting in their protection from dephosphorylation. To examine this possibility, we engineered a catalytically inactive/nonsubstrate-trapping SHP-2 mutant (R465M) in context of the E76A mutation to generate a compound SHP-2 mutant (E76A/R465M) that is catalytically inactive but resides in an open conformation. C2C12 cells were transfected with either vector, WT, E76A, or E76A/R465M along with plasmids expressing either SIRP
or PZR. As expected, expression of E76A resulted in the hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of both SIRP
and PZR (Fig. 6, A and B). Interestingly, expression of E76A/R465M also induced hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR (Fig. 6, A and B). There are two possible interpretations of these data. The first is that hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR might occur because of a protective effect of the SHP-2 SH2 domains. Hence, the catalytic activity of the activated SHP-2 mutant might be dispensable for SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation. The second possibility is that because both SIRP
and PZR are putative SHP-2 substrates, overexpression of a catalytically inactive mutant of SHP-2 could also result in their hypertyrosyl phosphorylation (47, 51).
If the SH2 domains of the activated SHP-2 mutants simply protected SIRP
and PZR from dephosphorylation, expressing the SH2 domains of SHP-2 alone would result in the hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR. However, if SHP-2 catalysis and/or adaptor function were required for SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation, the SH2 domains when overexpressed should function as a dominant-negative mutant of SHP-2 (26, 52) and suppress SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation. To distinguish between these possibilities, C2C12 cells were transiently co-transfected with GST fusions of WT, N308D, E76A, and the SH2 domains alone of SHP-2 (SH2) along with either full-length SIRP
or PZR. When the tandem SH2 domains of SHP-2 were expressed in cells and the status of SIRP
tyrosyl phosphorylation was examined, we found that SIRP
tyrosyl phosphorylation was induced to levels equivalent to that of cells expressing either E76A or N308D (Fig. 6C). These results imply that SIRP
hypertyrosyl phosphorylation is likely caused by the SH2 domains of SHP-2 binding to, and subsequently protecting, SIRP
from dephosphorylation. In contrast, we found that PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation was suppressed by the SH2 domains of SHP-2 (Fig. 6D). The SH2 domains were expressed to levels that were comparable with WT and activated SHP-2 mutants (Fig. 6, C and D). These results indicate that, unlike SIRP
, hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of PZR induced by the activated SHP-2 mutants is not a result of a protection effect by the SH2 domains. Therefore, in context of full-length activated SHP-2 mutants, PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation is presumably promoted either through the PTP domain of SHP-2 and/or an adaptor mechanism through its COOH terminus. Collectively, these observations suggest two distinct mechanisms for how the activated SHP-2 mutants induce SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation.
Enhanced ERK Activation in Response to Adhesion of Ptpn11(D61G) Fibroblasts—SIRP
plays a role in cytoskeletal reorganization and migration (49, 53). Similarly, PZR has been shown to be involved in fibronectin-mediated cell migration (54). Because we have provided evidence that SIRP
and PZR are the two major hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins associated with SHP-2 in Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos, we hypothesized that MEFs derived from Ptpn11D61G/D61G embryos (D61G MEFs) might display defects in cell migration, adhesion, and/or adhesion-mediated signaling. To test these possibilities we used MEFs from Ptpn11D61G/D61G knock-in mice (18). We first determined whether SIRP
and PZR were hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated and bound increased levels of SHP-2 (D61G). As shown previously, SHP-2 (D61G) co-precipitated with tyrosyl-phosphorylated p120/SIRP
and p40/PZR proteins (Fig. 7A), and SIRP
was hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in D61G MEFs as compared with WT MEFs (Fig. 7B). Similarly, PZR was hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in D61G MEFs as compared with WT MEFs (Fig. 7C). Next, we determined whether there are differences in extracellular matrix-mediated adhesion and migration between D61G and WT MEFs. We detected a slight reduction in fibronectin-mediated adhesion in D61G MEFs as compared with WT MEFs (Fig. 7D). Using fibronectin as an extracellular matrix substrate, we tested whether the D61G MEFs exhibited migratory defects. We found no detectable differences in migration as quantified in a transwell migration assay between WT and D61G MEFs (Fig. 7E).
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is involved in both positive and negative signaling effects to ERK in response to growth factors (42, 49, 55), although in response to adhesion-mediated integrin engagement SIRP
exerts a positive signaling effect on ERK (31). With regard to PZR, its role in ERK signaling has yet to be fully defined. Because NS-mediated signaling is proposed to involve enhanced Ras-ERK activation, we tested whether fibroblasts derived from the Ptpn11D61G/D61G knock-in mice might exhibit enhanced adhesion-dependent activation of ERK and whether SIRP
and/or PZR contribute to this effect.
First, we determined whether fibronectin-mediated ERK activation was enhanced in D61G MEFs in response to adhesion. D61G MEFs when re-plated onto fibronectin displayed a sustained activation of ERK, whereas ERK activation was more transient in WT MEFs (Fig. 8A). These results demonstrated that the activated D61G SHP-2 mutant enhances adhesion-mediated ERK activation. Our working hypothesis predicts that the increased SIRP
-D61G SHP-2 and/or PZR-D61G SHP-2 complex formation contributes to the sustained activation of ERK in response to adhesion-dependent signaling. Therefore, we tested whether down-regulating SIRP
expression attenuates the sustained activation of ERK in response to adhesion in D61G MEFs. We used siRNA to SIRP
to knock down its expression in D61G MEFs. As compared with nontargeting siRNA, transfection of SIRP
siRNA into D61G cells resulted in a substantial decrease in SIRP
expression (Fig. 8B). When we compared the kinetics of ERK activation in D61G MEFs following plating onto fibronectin, we found that siRNA SIRP
-treated D61G MEFs exhibited an attenuation of ERK activation as compared with nontargeting siRNA-treated controls (Fig. 8B). These results suggest that SIRP
and consequently increased plasma membrane association of SHP-2 D61G with SIRP
contribute to the enhanced activation of ERK in response to adhesion. To determine whether PZR plays a role in enhanced ERK activation in D61G MEFs in response to adhesion, we used siRNA to PZR to knock down its expression in D61G MEFs. As shown in Fig. 8C, we were able to eliminate its expression by more than 90%. When we determined the kinetics of ERK activation in siRNA PZR-treated D61G MEFs following plating onto fibronectin, there was a moderate but consistent reduction of adhesion-dependent ERK activation as compared with the control treated cells (Fig. 8C). Together, these data demonstrate that increased association of SIRP
with SHP-2 D61G, and to a lesser extent with PZR, contributes to enhanced adhesion-mediated ERK signaling.
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| DISCUSSION |
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and PZR as hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated NS-associated SHP-2 mutant-interacting proteins during embryogenesis in a mouse model of NS. We show that SIRP
contributes to the enhanced ERK activation in D61G MEFs in response to adhesion. These data suggest that enhanced recruitment of NS-associated SHP-2 mutants to SIRP
and PZR during embryogenesis might contribute to enhanced ERK activation in response to extracellular matrix signals. Many developmental processes such as heart morphogenesis, neurogenesis, and vasculogenesis require the precise regulation of adhesion-dependent signals (56). Because NS patients exhibit complex cardiovascular defects and mental retardation, it is therefore conceivable that these defects might arise, at least in part, through promiscuous adhesion-dependent signaling mediated by activated SHP-2 mutants. We identified PZR as a hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated protein in cells expressing activated SHP-2 mutants and during embryogenesis in the NS knock-in mouse model. The function of PZR still remains unclear, although our data suggest a potential role for PZR in adhesion-dependent signaling because PZR becomes inducibly tyrosyl-phosphorylated upon plating cells onto fibronectin, yet it fails to do so in response to growth factors. In support of these observations, it has been proposed that PZR is involved in the regulation of cell motility (54). However, we have been unable to observe such effects upon overexpression of PZR in either myoblasts or endothelial cells (data not shown). It is clear that additional work is needed before the function of PZR is fully elucidated. Nevertheless, our experiments are consistent with the idea that PZR might serve as an adhesion-regulated signaling molecule. It is not unreasonable to speculate that PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation and association with SHP-2 may play a role in adhesion-mediated signaling and that hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of PZR by NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants results in dysregulated extracellular matrix-dependent signaling. Consistent with this, we observe a moderate attenuation of adhesion-dependent ERK activation in PZR siRNA-treated D61G cells. These results suggest that PZR might only play a minor role in enhanced adhesion-dependent ERK activation. Further work will be required to identify the major pathway through which PZR signals.
Unlike PZR, the function and mechanisms of action of SIRP
are more defined. SIRP
becomes tyrosyl-phosphorylated and associates with SHP-2 in response to a variety of stimuli, including growth factors and extracellular matrix engagement (31, 43). In most cases it appears that tyrosyl phosphorylation of the ITIMs within the cytoplasmic tail of SIRP
are required for signaling. For example, overexpression of wild-type SIRP
leads to increased cell migration, whereas overexpression of the tyrosine phosphorylation site mutant has no effect (53). Moreover, a role for the cytoplasmic domain in general, has been provided using fibroblasts lacking the SIRP
cytoplasmic domain. These cells display increased focal adhesions, actin stress fibers, and migration defects (49). Therefore, our observation that SIRP
becomes hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated upon expression of the activated SHP-2 mutants suggests that down-stream signaling from SIRP
is likely to be altered. Although we were unable to detect major differences in either cell adhesion and migration in D61G MEFs, we did observe that siRNA-mediated down-regulation of SIRP
expression decreases ERK activation in D61G MEFs in response to adhesion. These observations suggest that SIRP
contributes to SHP-2 D61G mutant-induced enhanced ERK activation in response to adhesion. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that other SIRP
-interacting proteins also participate in ERK activation.
How do activated SHP-2 mutants lead to hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of these target proteins? We initially hypothesized that the activated SHP-2 mutants stimulate a tyrosine kinase that subsequently phosphorylates SIRP
and PZR. Several studies have shown that SHP-2 functions upstream of the SFKs; moreover, both SIRP
and PZR are targets for phosphorylation by c-Src (30, 31, 57). Thus, c-Src is an attractive tyrosine kinase that could mediate both SIRP
and PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation by the activated SHP-2 mutants. When we examined c-Src activation, no major differences were detected between WT and Ptpn11D61G/+ embryos under conditions in which both SIRP
and PZR were hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated. These results suggest that c-Src is unlikely to be a major target of SHP-2 that mediates SIRP
and PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation in this mouse model of NS at this stage of embryogenesis. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that c-Src becomes activated by the NS-associated SHP-2 mutant in a tissue-specific manner similar to that observed for ERK (18).
To further examine the mechanism by which activated SHP-2 mutants lead to hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR, we determined whether the catalytic activity of the activated SHP-2 mutant is required for hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of these target proteins. Both SIRP
and PZR are hypertyrosyl-phosphorylated in the presence of the E76A/R465M SHP-2 mutant that represents an open conformation/catalytically inactive nonsubstrate-trapping mutant of SHP-2. The activated SHP-2 mutants are predicted to be in an open conformation even in the absence of any ligand (14, 15, 20). Therefore, it is conceivable that the SH2 domains of the activated SHP-2 mutants bind and protect their target proteins from dephosphorylation. Indeed, we found that hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
occurred upon expression of the SH2 domains alone. The simplest interpretation of these results is that the SH2 domains of SHP-2 protect SIRP
from dephosphorylation. Although there are other possibilities, such as the SH2 domains of SHP-2 activating a tyrosine kinase that phosphorylates SIRP
, there is no evidence to support a positive signaling effect of the SH2 domains of SHP-2 alone. Hence, we favor the model that the SH2 domains of the activated SHP-2 mutants protect select phosphotyrosyl sites from dephosphorylation. In contrast, expression of the SH2 domains of SHP-2 alone blocked PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation. These results demonstrate that PZR hypertyrosyl phosphorylation does not occur as a result of a protection mechanism by the SH2 domains of SHP-2. We propose that the SH2 domains of SHP-2 acts as a dominant-negative (26, 52), thereby preventing activation and/or recruitment of a tyrosine kinase that phosphorylates PZR. Even though the identity of this putative tyrosine kinase is unknown, our data suggest that it is unlikely to be either Src, Yes, or Fyn. The possibility that other Src family kinase members are involved in PZR tyrosyl phosphorylation has yet to be formerly ruled out. Altogether, our results demonstrate that the activated mutants of SHP-2 lead to hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR by distinct mechanisms.
In summary, we have identified that activated SHP-2 mutants in cultured cells and in a mouse model of NS cause hypertyrosyl phosphorylation of SIRP
and PZR and increased SHP-2 association. Our results imply that NS/leukemia-associated SHP-2 mutants engage extracellular matrix signals resulting in their increased recruitment to the plasma membrane via SIRP
and PZR, which may then function to enhance ERK signaling.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, SHM B226D, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06520-8066. Tel.: 203-737-2441; Fax: 203-737-2738; E-mail: anton. bennett{at}yale.edu.
2 The abbreviations are: SH2, Src homology domain 2; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinases; Gab, Grb2-associated binder; MEFs, mouse embryo fibroblasts; NS, Noonan syndrome; SFK, Src family kinase; FBS, fetal bovine serum; WT, wild type; siRNA, small interfering RNA; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; EGF, epidermal growth factor; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; FGF-2, fibroblast growth factor-2; BSA, bovine serum albumin; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; PTP, protein-tyrosine phosphatase; GST, glutathione S-transferase; GFP, green fluorescent protein. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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