Angiotensin II controls p21ras activity via pp60c-src.

Angiotensin II is the major effector peptide of the renin-angiotensin system, and it exerts its physiologic functions via a G protein-coupled cell surface receptor called AT1. We found that in rat aortic smooth muscle cells, angiotensin II stimulated the formation of Ras-GTP, Ras-Raf-1 complex formation, and the tyrosine phosphorylation of two important Ras GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), p120 Ras-GAP and p190 Rho-GAP. Electroporation of anti-pp60c-src antibody into cultured, adherent smooth muscle cells blocked the angiotensin II stimulation of Ras-GAP and Rho-GAP tyrosine phosphorylation. In contrast electroporation of antibodies against c-Yes or c-Fyn had no effect. Anti-pp60c-src antibody also blocked angiotensin II-stimulated Ras activation and Ras-Raf-1 complex formation. These data strongly suggest that a G protein-coupled receptor such as the AT1 receptor can activate the Ras protein cascade via the tyrosine kinase pp60c-src.

Importance of tyrosine phosphorylation in angiotensin II type 1 receptor signaling.

Angiotensin II is the major effector peptide of the renin-angiotensin system. In addition to its vasoconstrictor activity, angiotensin II stimulates smooth muscle cell growth in arterial hypertension and in models of vascular injury. The angiotensin II type 1 receptor is a seven-transmembrane receptor and is responsible for virtually all the physiological actions of angiotensin II. This class of receptor signals in part through its association with heterotrimeric G proteins. A newly developed concept for guanine nucleotide protein-coupled receptors is the activation of intracellular second-messenger proteins via tyrosine phosphorylation. For instance, angiotensin II stimulates the rapid tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of phospholipase C-gamma1. Also, angiotensin II stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of Janus kinases. In this review, we discuss early signaling events induced by angiotensin II with an emphasis on tyrosine phosphorylation. Understanding the importance of tyrosine phosphorylation in the signaling pathways of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor may lead to new treatment modalities for cardiovascular disease.

Angiotensin II signalling events mediated by tyrosine phosphorylation.

Angiotensin II is a potent vasoconstrictor that is important in the control of systemic blood pressure. All the hemodynamic effects of angiotensin II result from the AT1 receptor which has the structural features of a seven transmembrane receptor. Both in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells and rat glomerular mesangial cells, angiotensin II stimulates the rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C-gamma 1 (PLC-gamma 1). Tyrosine kinase inhibitors that block this phosphorylation also block the angiotensin II-mediated production of 1,4,5 inositol trisphosphate (1,4,5-IP3) and the intracellular release of Ca2+. The cellular tyrosine kinase c-src appears to play a critical role in the angiotensin II-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-gamma 1 and the generation of 1,4,5-IP3. We have also found that angiotensin II stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of the JAK family of intracellular kinases. This in turn activates the STAT family of transcription factors. Angiotensin II, working through the AT1 receptor, uses tyrosine phosphorylation as a mechanism to convey signals from the cell surface to the cell nucleus.

Angiotensin II signal transduction and the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.

In this review, the angiotensin-II-mediated signal transduction pathways involved in vascular smooth muscle cell growth are discussed. Classical pathways involving phospholipase C and protein kinase C, as well as the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, are common signal transduction pathways activated by a variety of growth factors to stimulate cell growth. Besides its vasoconstrictor activity, angiotensin II stimulates hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells and is involved in neointimal proliferation following balloon angioplasty. Understanding angiotensin-II-stimulated signaling events, as well as the crosstalk among signaling pathways, may form the basis for the development of new therapies for hypertension and restenosis.

Electroporation of pp60c-src antibodies inhibits the angiotensin II activation of phospholipase C-gamma 1 in rat aortic smooth muscle cells.

Our previous study has shown that angiotensin II induces the rapid tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of phospholipase C-gamma 1 in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle (RASM) cells (Marrero, M.B., Paxton, W.G., Duff, J. L., Berk, B. C., and Bernstein, K. E. (1994) J. Biol. Chem, 269, 10935-10939). This signaling pathway is initiated by ligand binding to the AT1 receptor, a cell surface G protein-coupled receptor. Antibodies to pp60c-src were introduced into RASM cells by electroporation. Angiotensin II-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C-gamma 1 was eliminated by the anti-pp60c-src antibodies but not by anti-mouse IgG or bovine serum albumin. Angiotensin II also induced the rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of pp120, a known pp60c-src kinase substrate, and this phosphorylation was also specifically inhibited by anti-pp60c-src antibodies. Electroporation of RASM cells with anti-pp60c-src antibodies had no effect on platelet-derived growth factor-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-gamma 1. Anti-pp60c-src also reduced the angiotensin II-stimulated inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production by 78%, while it had no effect on the platelet-derived growth factor-stimulated inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production. These data provide the first evidence for a direct involvement of pp60c-src kinase in angiotensin II-mediated PLC-gamma 1 phosphorylation and activation. Furthermore, it also describes a pathway in which a seven-transmembrane receptor can stimulate an intracellular tyrosine kinase.

Direct stimulation of Jak/STAT pathway by the angiotensin II AT1 receptor.

The peptide angiotensin II is the effector molecule of the reninangiotensin system. All the haemodynamic effects of angiotensin II, including vasoconstriction and adrenal aldosterone release, are mediated through a single class of cell-surface receptors known as AT1 (refs 1, 2). These receptors contain the structural features of the G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily. We show here that angiotensin II induces the rapid phosphorylation of tyrosine in the intracellular kinases Jak2 and Tyk2 in rat aortic smooth-muscle cells and that this phosphorylation is associated with increased activity of Jak2. The Jak family substrates STAT1 and STAT2 (for signal transducers and activators of transcription) are rapidly tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to angiotensin II. We also find that Jak2 co-precipitates with the AT1 receptor, indicating that G-protein-coupled receptors may be able to signal through the intracellular phosphorylation pathways used by cytokine receptors.

The angiotensin II AT1 receptor is tyrosine and serine phosphorylated and can serve as a substrate for the src family of tyrosine kinases.

Angiotensin II AT1 receptor signal transduction has recently been shown to function through the phospholipase C isozyme, PLC-gamma. Since PLC-gamma is known to interact with phosphotyrosine containing proteins through SH2 domains, we examined the phosphorylation state of the AT1 receptor. Immunoprecipitation of the [32P] labeled AT1 receptor from rat aortic smooth muscle cells followed by alkali hydrolysis demonstrated the presence of tyrosine phosphorylation. Phosphoamino acid analysis of the excised bands demonstrated the presence of phosphoserine and phosphotyrosine residues. A fusion protein comprising the intracellular tail of the AT1 receptor was used to screen for candidate kinases, and the src kinase family displayed high activity. In summary, this study shows that the AT1 receptor is serine and tyrosine phosphorylated in vivo and suggests that a soluble kinase related to the src family may be responsible for the tyrosine phosphorylation.

Angiotensin II stimulates tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C-gamma 1 in vascular smooth muscle cells.

The receptor for angiotensin II (Ang II) has recently been cloned; it is a receptor with seven transmembrane spanning domains that stimulates phosphoinositide hydrolysis upon ligand binding. The physiologic effects of Ang II are important in the regulation of vascular function. In this study, we examined the ability of Ang II to regulate the enzymatic activity of phospholipase C (PLC) in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). In cultured VSMC, PLC-gamma 1 and PLC-delta 1 isozymes, but not PLC-beta 1, were identified by Western analysis. Ang II (10(-7) M)-stimulated PLC-gamma 1 phosphotyrosine phosphorylation with a maximum increase of 4.5-fold at 0.5 min. This followed the same time course as the Ang II-stimulated increase in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (1,4,5-IP3) levels. 1,4,5-IP3 formation was inhibited 75% by the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein (120 microM). Several growth factor receptors, such as the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor are themselves tyrosine kinases and have been shown to phosphorylate PLC-gamma 1 and increase intracellular Ca2+ concentrations. The time course for PLC-gamma 1 phosphorylation, IP3 formation, and Ca2+ mobilization by PDGF differed from Ang II in VSMC. The kinetics of the PDGF effects were slower in onset and more prolonged than those of Ang II. In summary, these findings show that Ang II stimulates VSMC phosphoinositide hydrolysis in association with tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-gamma 1 and support the concept that Ang II-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation is responsible for early signal transduction events.

Angiotensin II induces 3CH134, a protein-tyrosine phosphatase, in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Angiotensin II is a potent growth factor for vascular smooth muscle cells and shares many signal transduction mechanisms with mitogens, including stimulation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation involves both protein-tyrosine kinases and protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases). To investigate the role of PTPases in angiotensin II-mediated events, we studied the expression of a transcriptionally regulated PTPase, 3CH134, which has selective activity toward MAP kinase. Angiotensin II rapidly induced 3CH134 mRNA (30 min maximum) in a concentration-dependent manner (100 nM maximum). Platelet-derived growth factor, alpha-thrombin, hydrogen peroxide, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, and ionomycin also induced 3CH134 but to levels lower than angiotensin II. Induction of 3CH134 by angiotensin II was partially inhibited after down-regulating protein kinase C but was fully inhibited after chelating intracellular Ca2+. Treatment with both phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin induced 3CH134 mRNA to levels seen with angiotensin II, indicating that Ca2+ mobilization and protein kinase C activation can act synergistically to induce 3CH134. Angiotensin II stimulated 3CH134 protein synthesis after 1 h as measured by immunoprecipitation of 3CH134 from [35S]methionine-labeled cells using affinity-purified antibodies. These results establish 3CH134 as a dynamically regulated, immediate early gene in vascular smooth muscle cells and suggest a role for PTPases in regulating angiotensin II-stimulated events mediated by MAP kinases and tyrosine kinases.

Immunohistochemical localization of rat angiotensin II AT1 receptor.

To study receptors for angiotensin II, polyclonal rabbit anti-peptide antisera were prepared against the peptide QDDCPKAGRHC corresponding to amino acids 15-24 of the rat AT1A and AT1B receptors. Western analysis of rat tissues showed a major band of approximately 43 kDa. The antisera immunoprecipitated AT1-receptor protein produced in vitro. Immunohistochemical analysis of rat tissues showed intense staining of arterial and arteriolar smooth muscle. Other tissues that contained AT1-receptor protein included hepatocytes, the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal gland, and the smooth muscle of the bronchus, gut, ureter, and epididymis. In the kidney, intense staining was observed in all small arteries and arterioles. Both afferent and efferent arterioles contain approximately equal intensities of immunoreactive AT1 protein. The inner stripe of the outer medulla has a moderate level of receptors within thick ascending limb epithelium. Proximal tubular epithelium also expresses receptor protein. Glomerular immunoreactive AT1 protein is found within mesangial cells and varies in intensity among different rat strains. Lewis and Wistar rats demonstrated moderate glomerular staining, whereas the CD and Sprague-Dawley strains showed lesser levels of reactivity. The fact that glomerular mesangial cells are the primary locus of angiotensin II action within the glomerulus.