Interleukin-6-resistant melanoma cells exhibit reduced activation of STAT3 and lack of inhibition of cyclin E-associated kinase activity.

Development of cytokine resistance is an important feature of melanoma cells during tumor progression. To study the mechanisms of interleukin-6 resistance, we examined an interleukin-6 sensitive (WM35) and an interleukin-6 unresponsive cell line (WM9). Interleukin-6 treatment resulted in rapid inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 2/cyclin E activity and accumulation of the hypophosphorylated retinoblastoma protein in WM35 but not in WM9 cells. In contrast to previous reports, no differences in the expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase 2 inhibitor p21Cip1/WAF1 upon interleukin-6 treatment were found in both cell lines. Interleukin-6-induced inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 was also not due to changes in protein expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 2, cyclin E, p27Kip1 and cdc25A, a phosphatase positively regulating cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activity. As it is established that interleukin-6 resistance of WM9 cells is not caused by differential interleukin-6 receptor expression, we studied whether this is due to defective interleukin-6 signaling in which activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 is a critical step. WM9 cells showed reduced tyrosine phosphorylation, DNA binding, and delayed nuclear translocation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 as compared with WM35 cells. The kinase upstream of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, Janus kinase 1, was constitutively tyrosine-phosphorylated in WM9 cells and did not respond to interleukin-6 with increased phosphorylation. As compared with WM35 cells, interleukin-6 treatment of WM9 cells was not paralleled by reduced activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-1, which suppresses activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3. Our data suggest that resistance of advanced melanoma cells to interleukin-6 is associated with reduced inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 2, which appears to be a consequence of a complex alteration in interleukin-6 signal transduction.

Mitogen-activated protein kinases control p27/Kip1 expression and growth of human melanoma cells.

The mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK)1 and ERK2, involved in regulating cell growth and differentiation, are constitutively active in A375 and WM239 human melanoma cells. Using PD098059, an inhibitor of MAPK kinase (MEK), we investigated the role of persistently activated ERK1/2 in cell growth. The inhibition of MAPK activity induced a dose-dependent growth arrest in G(0)/G(1) phase. Correspondingly, we observed the up-regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p27/Kip1 and hypophosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein. Further studies showed that PD098059 treatment significantly decreased Cdk2 kinase activity, most probably owing to an augmented level of p27/Kip1 associated with cyclin E-Cdk2 complexes. The accumulation of p27/Kip1 protein in A375 cells was attributed to its increased stability. Our findings suggest that constitutively active ERK1/2 kinases contribute to the growth of melanoma cells by negative regulation of the p27/Kip1 inhibitor.

Termination of IL-6-induced STAT activation is independent of receptor internalization but requires de novo protein synthesis.

The interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor complex comprises the IL-6 receptor (IL-6R, gp80) and the signal transducer gp130. Binding of IL-6 to its receptor results in dimerization of gp130, activation of the Jak/STAT pathway, and in a down-regulation of IL-6 binding sites by endocytosis. The STAT activation after stimulation is transient, being maximal after 15-30 min and disappearing after 60-90 min. The mechanism which leads to the termination of the signal is still unknown. In this paper we have studied whether the down-modulation of the STAT signal requires the endocytosis of the receptor complex. Our results suggest that the desensitization of the IL-6 signal is not due to internalization of the receptor complex but requires de novo protein synthesis.

Cytoplasmic STAT proteins associate prior to activation.

The commonly accepted model of STAT factor activation at the cytoplasmic part of the receptor assumes that signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) are recruited from a cytoplasmic pool of monomeric STAT proteins. Based on a previous observation that non-phosphorylated STAT3-Src homology 2 domains dimerize in vitro, we investigated whether the observed dimerization is of physiological relevance within the cellular context. We show that STAT1 and STAT3 are pre-associated in non-stimulated cells. Apparently, these complexes are not able to translocate into the nucleus. We provide evidence that the event of STAT activation is more complex than previously assumed.

Interleukin-6 and oncostatin M-induced growth inhibition of human A375 melanoma cells is STAT-dependent and involves upregulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27/Kip1.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6)-type cytokines lead to growth arrest of human A375 melanoma cells. The present study demonstrates that this effect depends on the activation of STAT transcription factors. We observed a correlation between the extent of growth inhibition exerted by IL-6, IL-6 plus soluble IL-6 receptor or oncostatin M (OSM) and the intensities of STAT3 and STAT1 signals. A truncated chimeric receptor retaining only the membrane-proximal region of gp130, the common signal transducer of IL-6-type cytokines, did neither activate STATs nor mediate growth arrest of stable transfectants. These functions were restored by the addition of short STAT recruitment modules comprising critical tyrosine residues from gp130 (Y767, Y814). A receptor carrying tyrosine module Y759 of gp130 effectively mediated activation of the phosphatase SHP-2 but did not alter cell growth. Overexpression of dominant negative forms of STAT3 but not STAT1 abrogated the inhibitory effect of OSM and IL-6 in A375 cells. In addition, we have identified the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27/Kipl as a novel target to be regulated by IL-6-type cytokines. Stimulation-dependent upregulation of p27 mRNA occurred STAT3-dependently. Also p27 protein accumulated which coincided with the disappearance of hyperphosphorylated retinoblastoma protein in three human melanoma cell lines sensitive to IL-6-type cytokines.