Integrin and microtubule crosstalk in the regulation of cellular processes.

Integrins engage components of the extracellular matrix, and in collaboration with other receptors, regulate signaling cascades that impact cell behavior in part by modulating the cell's cytoskeleton. Integrins have long been known to function together with the actin cytoskeleton to promote cell adhesion, migration, and invasion, and with the intermediate filament cytoskeleton to mediate the strong adhesion needed for the maintenance and integrity of epithelial tissues. Recent studies have shed light on the crosstalk between integrin and the microtubule cytoskeleton. Integrins promote microtubule nucleation, growth, and stabilization at the cell cortex, whereas microtubules regulate integrin activity and remodeling of adhesion sites. Integrin-dependent stabilization of microtubules at the cell cortex is critical to the establishment of apical-basal polarity required for the formation of epithelial tissues. During cell migration, integrin-dependent microtubule stabilization contributes to front-rear polarity, whereas microtubules promote the turnover of integrin-mediated adhesions. This review focuses on this interdependent relationship and its impact on cell behavior and function.

Integrins promote cytokinesis through the RSK signaling axis.

Cytokinesis is the final stage in cell division. Although integrins can regulate cytokinesis, the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. In this study, we demonstrate that integrin-regulated ERK (extracellular signal-related kinase) and RSK (p90 ribosomal S6 kinase) signaling promotes successful cytokinesis. Inhibiting the activation of ERK and RSK in CHO cells by a mutation in the integrin ß1 cytoplasmic tail or with pharmacological inhibitors results in the accumulation of cells with midbodies and the formation of binucleated cells. Activation of ERK and RSK signaling by the expression of constitutively active RAF1 suppresses the mutant phenotype in a RSK-dependent manner. Constitutively active RSK2 also restores cytokinesis inhibited by the mutant integrin. Importantly, the regulatory role of the RSK pathway is not specific to CHO cells. MCF-10A human mammary epithelial cells and HPNE human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells exhibit a similar dependence on RSK for successful cytokinesis. In addition, depriving mitotic MCF10A cells of integrin-mediated adhesion by incubating them in suspension suppressed ERK and RSK activation and resulted in a failure of cytokinesis. Furthermore, inhibition of RSK or integrins within the 3D context of a developing salivary gland organ explant also leads to an accumulation of epithelial cells with midbodies, suggesting a similar defect in cytokinesis. Interestingly, neither ERK nor RSK regulates cytokinesis in human fibroblasts, suggesting cell-type specificity. Taken together, our results identify the integrin-RSK signaling axis as an important regulator of cytokinesis in epithelial cells. We propose that the proper interaction of cells with their microenvironment through integrins contributes to the maintenance of genomic stability by promoting the successful completion of cytokinesis.

Integrins as regulators of the mitotic machinery.

Mitotic spindle bipolarity defines a unique division plane that promotes the successful transmission of genetic material during cytokinesis. The positioning and orientation of the spindle determines the symmetry of cell division and the relative location of daughter cells, which regulate cell fate decisions that contribute to embryonic development and tissue differentiation. Recent studies have identified integrins as regulators of spindle positioning and orientation, as well as spindle bipolarity and cytokinesis. This review summarizes and discusses the current effort focused on understanding how integrins regulate these mitotic events.

The NPIY motif in the integrin beta1 tail dictates the requirement for talin-1 in outside-in signaling.

Protein interactions with the integrin beta-subunit cytoplasmic domain (beta-tail) are essential for adhesion-dependent processes, including cell spreading and the connection of integrins with actin filaments at adhesion sites. Talin-1 binds to the conserved membrane-proximal NPxY motif of beta-tails (NPIY in beta1 integrin) promoting the inside-out activation of integrins and providing a linkage between integrins and the actin cytoskeleton. Here, we characterize the role of interactions between talin-1 and beta-tail downstream of integrin activation, in the context of recombinant integrins containing either the wild type (WT) or the (YA) mutant beta1A tail, with a tyrosine to alanine substitution in the NPIY motif. In addition to inhibiting integrin activation, the YA mutation suppresses cell spreading, integrin signaling, focal adhesion and stress-fiber formation, as well as microtubule assembly. Constitutive activation of the mutant integrin restores these integrin-dependent processes, bringing into question the importance of the NPIY motif downstream of integrin activation. Depletion of talin-1 using TLN1 siRNA demonstrated that talin-1 is required for cell spreading, focal adhesion and stress-fiber formation, as well as microtubule assembly, even when cells are adhered by constitutively activated WT integrins. Depletion of talin-1 does not inhibit these processes when cells are adhered by constitutively activated mutant integrins, suggesting that the binding of an inhibitory protein to the NPIY motif negatively regulates integrin function when talin-1 is depleted. We identified filamin A (FLNa) as this inhibitory protein; it binds to the beta1A tail in an NPIY-dependent manner and inhibition of FLNa expression in talin-1-depleted cells restores integrin function when cells are adhered by constitutively activated WT integrins. FLNa binds FilGAP, which is a negative regulator of Rac activation. Expression of the dominant inhibitory mutant, FilGAP(DeltaGAP), which lacks GAP activity restores spreading in cells adhered by constitutively activated integrins containing the beta1A tail, but not by integrins containing the beta1D tail, which is known to bind poorly to FLNa. Together, these results suggest that the binding of talin-1 to the NPIY motif is required downstream of integrin activation to promote cell spreading by preventing the inappropriate recruitment of FLNa and FilGAP to the beta1A tail. Our studies emphasize the importance of understanding the mechanisms that regulate the differential binding FLNa and talin-1 to the beta1 tail downstream of integrin activation in promoting integrin function.

Long noncoding RNA EWSAT1-mediated gene repression facilitates Ewing sarcoma oncogenesis.

Chromosomal translocation that results in fusion of the genes encoding RNA-binding protein EWS and transcription factor FLI1 (EWS-FLI1) is pathognomonic for Ewing sarcoma. EWS-FLI1 alters gene expression through mechanisms that are not completely understood. We performed RNA sequencing (RNAseq) analysis on primary pediatric human mesenchymal progenitor cells (pMPCs) expressing EWS-FLI1 in order to identify gene targets of this oncoprotein. We determined that long noncoding RNA-277 (Ewing sarcoma-associated transcript 1 [EWSAT1]) is upregulated by EWS-FLI1 in pMPCs. Inhibition of EWSAT1 expression diminished the ability of Ewing sarcoma cell lines to proliferate and form colonies in soft agar, whereas EWSAT1 inhibition had no effect on other cell types tested. Expression of EWS-FLI1 and EWSAT1 repressed gene expression, and a substantial fraction of targets that were repressed by EWS-FLI1 were also repressed by EWSAT1. Analysis of RNAseq data from primary human Ewing sarcoma further supported a role for EWSAT1 in mediating gene repression. We identified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (HNRNPK) as an RNA-binding protein that interacts with EWSAT1 and found a marked overlap in HNRNPK-repressed genes and those repressed by EWS-FLI1 and EWSAT1, suggesting that HNRNPK participates in EWSAT1-mediated gene repression. Together, our data reveal that EWSAT1 is a downstream target of EWS-FLI1 that facilitates the development of Ewing sarcoma via the repression of target genes.