Adhesion-related kinase induction of migration requires phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and ras stimulation of rac activity in immortalized gonadotropin-releasing hormone neuronal cells.

GnRH neurons migrate into the hypothalamus during development. Although migratory defects may result in disordered activation of the reproductive axis and lead to delayed or absent sexual maturation, specific factors regulating GnRH neuronal migration remain largely unknown. The receptor tyrosine kinase, adhesion-related kinase (Ark) (also known as Axl, UFO, and Tyro7), has been implicated in the migration of GnRH neuronal cells. Binding of its ligand, growth arrest-specific gene 6 (Gas6), promotes cytoskeletal remodeling and migration of NLT GnRH neuronal cells via Rac and p38 MAPK. Here, we examined the Axl effectors proximal to Rac in the signaling pathway. Gas6/Axl-induced lamellipodia formation and migration were blocked after phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibition in GnRH neuronal cells. The p85 subunit of PI3K coimmunoprecipitated with Axl and was phosphorylated in a Gas6-sensitive manner. In addition, PI3K inhibition in GnRH neuronal cells diminished Gas6-induced Rac activation. Exogenous expression of a dominant-negative form of Ras also decreased GnRH neuronal lamellipodia formation, migration, and Rac activation. PI3K inhibition blocked Ras in addition to Rac activation and migration. In contrast, pharmacological blockade of the phospholipase C gamma effectors, protein kinase C or calcium/calmodulin protein kinase II, had no effect on Gas6/Axl signaling to promote Rac activation or stimulate cytoskeletal reorganization and migration. Together, these data show that the PI3K-Ras pathway is a major mediator of Axl actions upstream of Rac to induce GnRH neuronal cell migration.

Receptor tyrosine kinase Axl modulates the osteogenic differentiation of pericytes.

Vascular pericytes undergo osteogenic differentiation in vivo and in vitro and may, therefore, be involved in diseases involving ectopic calcification and osteogenesis. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that inhibit the entry of pericytes into this differentiation pathway. RNA was prepared from pericytes at confluence and after their osteogenic differentiation (mineralized nodules). Subtractive hybridization was conducted on polyA PCR-amplified RNA to isolate genes expressed by confluent pericytes that were downregulated in the mineralized nodules. The subtraction product was used to screen a pericyte cDNA library and one of the positive genes identified was Axl, the receptor tyrosine kinase. Northern and Western blotting confirmed that Axl was expressed by confluent cells and was downregulated in mineralized nodules. Western blot analysis demonstrated that confluent pericytes also secrete the Axl ligand, Gas6. Immunoprecipitation of confluent cell lysates with an anti-phosphotyrosine antibody followed by Western blotting using an anti-Axl antibody, demonstrated that Axl was active in confluent pericytes and that its activity could not be further enhanced by incubating the cells with recombinant Gas6. The addition of recombinant Axl-extracellular domain (ECD) to pericyte cultures inhibited the phosphorylation of Axl by endogenous Gas6 and enhanced the rate of nodule mineralization. These effects were inhibited by coincubation of pericytes with Axl-ECD and recombinant Gas6. Together these results demonstrate that activation of Axl inhibits the osteogenic differentiation of vascular pericytes.

Expression of the receptor tyrosine kinase Axl promotes ocular melanoma cell survival.

Metastatic tumor cells originating from cancers of a variety of tissues such as breast, skin, and prostate may remain dormant for long periods of time. In the case of uveal melanoma, the principal malignancy of the eye, complete removal of the primary tumor by enucleation can nonetheless be followed by metastatic tumor growth in distant organs months, years, or even decades later. This suggests that tumor cells have already spread to secondary sites at the time of treatment and remain dormant as micrometastases. Identifying factors that govern long-lived survival of metastatic tumor cells is therefore key to decreasing mortality associated with this and other diseases. While investigating factors differentially expressed in melanoma cells and normal melanocytes, we identified the receptor tyrosine kinase Axl and found up-regulation of Axl in uveal melanomas and melanoma cell lines by RNase protection, Western analysis, and immunohistochemistry. Axl has been shown to mediate cell growth and survival through its ligand Gas6 in non-transformed cells. To test whether stimulation of Axl can enhance survival of uveal melanoma cells, we assessed the degree of mitogenesis and cell survival by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and trypan blue exclusion, respectively, upon stimulation of Mel 290 uveal melanoma cells with Gas6 in vitro. We show that Gas6 mediates mitogenesis and cell survival in Mel 290 cells. We further demonstrate that these effects occur specifically through the Axl receptor by modulating the expression of Axl with an antisense construct. cDNA microarray analysis of 12,687 genes then revealed that Gas6 stimulation of Axl in Mel 290 cells results primarily in the down-regulation of Cyr61, a member of the CCN protein family involved in tumor progression. These data show that the Axl pathway mediates increased survival of uveal melanoma cells, potentially advantageous during cancer dormancy, and that Axl may function in part through regulation of Cyr61.

A soluble form of the Mer receptor tyrosine kinase inhibits macrophage clearance of apoptotic cells and platelet aggregation.

Membrane-bound receptors generate soluble ligand-binding domains either by proteolytic cleavage of the extracellular domain or alternative mRNA splicing yielding a secreted protein. Mertk (Mer) is in a receptor tyrosine kinase family with Axl and Tyro-3, and all 3 receptors share the Gas6 ligand. Mer regulates macrophage activation, promotes apoptotic cell engulfment, and supports platelet aggregation and clot stability in vivo. We have found that the membrane-bound Mer protein is cleaved in the extracellular domain via a metalloproteinase. The cleavage results in the production of a soluble Mer protein released in a constitutive manner from cultured cells. Significant amounts of the soluble Mer protein were also detected in human plasma, suggesting its physiologic relevance. Cleavage of Mer was enhanced by treatment with LPS and PMA and was specifically inhibited by a tumor necrosis factor alpha-converting enzyme metalloproteinase inhibitor. As a decoy receptor for Gas6, soluble Mer prevented Gas6-mediated stimulation of membrane-bound Mer. The inhibition of Gas6 activity by soluble Mer led to defective macrophage-mediated engulfment of apoptotic cells. Furthermore, soluble Mer decreased platelet aggregation in vitro and prevented fatal collagen/epinephrine-induced thromboembolism in mice, suggesting a potential therapeutic use for soluble Mer in the treatment of clotting disorders.