Activating SRC mutation in a subset of advanced human colon cancers.

The discovery of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) led to the identification of cellular Src (c-Src), a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, which has since been implicated in the development of numerous human cancers. c-Src has been found to be highly activated in colon cancers, particularly in those metastatic to the liver. Studies of the mechanism of c-Src regulation have suggested that c-Src kinase activity is downregulated by phosphorylation of a critical carboxy-terminal tyrosine (Tyr 530 in human c-Src, equivalent to Tyr 527 in chicken Src) and have implied the existence of activating mutations in this C-terminal regulatory region. We report here the identification of a truncating mutation in SRC at codon 531 in 12% of cases of advanced human colon cancer tested and demonstrate that the mutation is activating, transforming, tumorigenic and promotes metastasis. These results provide, for the first time, genetic evidence that activating SRC mutations may have a role in the malignant progression of human colon cancer.

SUMO modification of Sam68 enhances its ability to repress cyclin D1 expression and inhibits its ability to induce apoptosis.

Sam68 (Src associated in mitosis; 68 kDa) is an RNA-binding protein and substrate of Src family kinases. It is thought to play a role in cell cycle progression. Overexpression of Sam68 in fibroblasts was reported to have two separable functions dependent on its ability to bind RNA--cell cycle arrest or the induction of apoptosis. Post-translational modification with SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) is common to many transcription factors and can regulate protein localization, stability and function. Here we show Sam68 to be modified by SUMO, and demonstrate that the SUMO E3 ligase (PIAS1) (protein inhibitor of activated STAT1) can enhance Sam68 sumoylation. Lysine 96, the first lysine in the amino-terminal region of Sam68, was found to be the major SUMO acceptor site. Mutation of the SUMO acceptor lysine to arginine enhanced the ability of Sam68 to induce apoptosis but inhibited its ability to act as a transcriptional inhibitor of cyclin D1 expression. A SUMO-1 Sam68 fusion protein, on the other hand, inhibited the ability of Sam68 to induce apoptosis but was a strong repressor of cyclin D1 expression. Thus, SUMO may be an important regulator of Sam68 function in cell cycle progression.

Expression of a molecularly cloned human c-src oncogene by using a replication-competent retroviral vector.

We studied the expression of a molecularly cloned human c-src gene, c-src-1, localized on chromosome 20, whose coding region consists of 11 exons and spans a 19.5-kilobase (kb) distance. Using a replication-competent retroviral vector derived from molecularly cloned Rous sarcoma virus DNA (pSRA-2), we obtained two constructs: one (pSR-CS) carrying the unmodified human c-src coding sequence and another (pSR-CVS) with a chimeric gene formed between the human c-src gene and the carboxy-terminal 12-amino acid v-src-specific coding sequence. From chicken embryo fibroblasts transfected with these DNA constructs, infectious viruses designated as WO CS and WO CVS, respectively, were recovered. WO CS virus did not cause cell transformation, whereas WO CVS induced cell transformation. Analyses of the proviral DNAs indicated that all introns were spliced out such that the 19-kb inserts were converted to 1.7-kb cDNA forms. Analyses of src proteins in infected cells, using monoclonal antibody MAb327 against v-src protein, showed the following results. The CVS and CS src proteins were about 60 and 61 kilodaltons in size, respectively; the specific protein kinase activity assayed in vitro of the CVS src protein was about 20-fold higher than that of the CS src protein and comparable to that of the v-src protein; the transforming CVS src protein reacted to an antibody against a v-src-specific peptide, whereas the CS src protein did not. These results indicate that the human c-src gene has a potential transforming ability and suggest that the v-src-specific sequence played an important role in the generation of Rous sarcoma virus.

The SH3 domain of p56lck is involved in binding to phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase from T lymphocytes.

Many of the Src-like tyrosine kinases are thought to participate in multiprotein complexes that modulate transmembrane signalling through tyrosine phosphorylation. We have used in vitro binding studies employing bacterially expressed glutathione S-transferase-p56lck fusion proteins and cell extracts to map regions on p56lck that are involved in binding to phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K). Deletions within the SH3 domain of p56lck abolished binding of PI3K activity from T-cell lysates, whereas deletion of the SH2 domain caused only a slight reduction in the level of PI3K activity bound to p56lck sequences. The binding of PI3K from T-cell extracts to p56lck was not blocked by antiphosphotyrosine antibodies, but p56lck-bound PI3K activity was sensitive to phosphatase treatment. The SH3 domain of p56lck also bound the majority of PI3K activity from uninfected chicken embryo fibroblasts. However, a drastically different binding specificity was observed with use of extracts of Rous sarcoma virus v-src-transformed cells, in which the majority of PI3K activity bound to the SH2 domain of p56lck in a phosphotyrosine-dependent manner. These results suggest that are two modes of PI3K binding to p56lck, and presumably to other Src-like tyrosine kinases. In one mode, PI3K from T cells or uninfected chicken embryo fibroblasts binds predominantly to the SH3 domain of p56lck. In the other mode, involving PI3K from Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells, binding is largely phosphotyrosine dependent and requires the SH2 domain of p56lck.

Association of type I phosphatidylinositol kinase activity with mutationally activated forms of human pp60c-src.

Chicken embryo fibroblast cells overexpressing activated mutant forms of human pp60c-src, but not those overexpressing normal human pp60c-src, exhibited high levels of type I phosphatidylinositol (PI) kinase activity associated with pp60c-src. Levels of PI kinase activity were positively correlated with src tyrosine protein kinase activity and not with absolute levels of pp60c-src. Our results suggest that a linkage exists between certain forms of pp60c-src and the PI signal transduction pathway.

DNA sequence encoding the amino-terminal region of the human c-src protein: implications of sequence divergence among src-type kinase oncogenes.

We sequenced the 5'-coding region of the human c-src gene, exons 2 through 5, corresponding to one-third of the human c-src protein consisting of 536 amino acids. Sequence analysis of the src type of protein kinases revealed that the amino-terminal region encoded by exon 2 contains sequences specific for the src proteins and raised the possibility that this region is involved in the recognition of a src-specific substrate(s) or receptor(s).

Human cellular src gene: nucleotide sequence and derived amino acid sequence of the region coding for the carboxy-terminal two-thirds of pp60c-src.

The nucleotide sequence of the 3' two-thirds of a highly conserved, molecularly cloned human cellular src gene (c-src) has been determined. This region of the c-src gene encodes the tyrosine kinase domain of the cellular src protein (pp60c-src) and corresponds to exons 6 through 12 of the chicken c-src gene, as well as nucleotides 545 to 1542 of the Rous sarcoma virus src gene (v-src). The human c-src sequence is very strongly conserved with respect to both the chicken c-src and the Rous sarcoma virus v-src genes, with nearly 90% nucleotide homology observed in this region. Amino acid sequence conservation in this region is even greater; 98% of the amino acids are conserved between human and chicken c-src. Furthermore, the exon sizes and the locations of the exon-intron boundaries are identical in the human and chicken c-src genes. However, sequences within the introns have not been conserved, and the introns within the human c-src gene are significantly larger than the corresponding introns within the chicken c-src gene. The strong amino acid conservation between the carboxy-terminal two-thirds of pp60c-src of species as divergent as humans and chickens suggests that this portion of the pp60c-src protein specifies one or more functional domains that are of great importance to some aspect of normal cellular growth or differentiation.

Organization and analysis of the promoter region and 5' non-coding exons of the human c-src proto-oncogene.

In order to help clarify the cellular mechanisms that regulate expression of the human c-src proto-oncogene, we have isolated a series of overlapping genomic clones that contain the c-src promoter region, as well as three previously uncharacterized exons. These exons encode the 350-bp 5' untranslated region of the c-src mRNA and span 35 kb of genomic DNA, extending the human c-src locus to approximately 60 kb. Subcloning and sequence analysis of the 5' flanking region of the gene revealed a high GC content and several consensus Sp1 and AP2 binding sites. However, TATA or CAAT boxes were not present, a characteristic shared by other GC-rich promoters. Promoter-CAT constructs demonstrated that the promoter was functional in transfection assays and that its activity was dependent on correct orientation. CAT-promoter deletion constructs were used to define the 5' boundary for maximal promoter activity and to reveal the presence of both positive and negative regulatory elements. S1 analyses of human c-src mRNA from cell lines indicated that multiple transcription start sites were utilized.

Selected glimpses into the activation and function of Src kinase.

Since the discovery of the v-src and c-src genes and their products, much progress has been made in the elucidation of the structure, regulation, localization, and function of the Src protein. Src is a non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase that transduces signals that are involved in the control of a variety of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, motility, and adhesion. Src is normally maintained in an inactive state, but can be activated transiently during cellular events such as mitosis, or constitutively by abnormal events such as mutation (i.e. v-Src and some human cancers). Activation of Src occurs as a result of disruption of the negative regulatory processes that normally suppress Src activity, and understanding the various mechanisms behind Src activation has been a target of intense study. Src associates with cellular membranes, in particular the plasma membrane, and endosomal membranes. Studies indicate that the different subcellular localizations of Src could be important for the regulation of specific cellular processes such as mitogenesis, cytoskeletal organization, and/or membrane trafficking. This review will discuss the history behind the discovery and initial characterization of Src and the regulatory mechanisms of Src activation, in particular, regulation by modification of the carboxy-terminal regulatory tyrosine by phosphatases and kinases. Its focus will then turn to the different subcellular localizations of Src and the possible roles of nuclear and perinuclear targets of Src. Finally, a brief section will review some of our present knowledge regarding Src involvement in human cancers.

Activation of Src in human breast tumor cell lines: elevated levels of phosphotyrosine phosphatase activity that preferentially recognizes the Src carboxy terminal negative regulatory tyrosine 530.

Elevated levels of Src kinase activity have been reported in a number of human cancers, including colon and breast cancer. We have analysed four human breast tumor cell lines that exhibit high levels of Src kinase activity, and have determined that these cell lines also exhibit a high level of a phosphotyrosine phosphatase activity that recognizes the Src carboxy-terminal P-Tyr530 negative regulatory site. Total Src kinase activity in these cell lines is elevated as much as 30-fold over activity in normal control cells and specific activity is elevated as much as 5.6-fold. When the breast tumor cells were grown in the presence of the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor vanadate, Src kinase activity was reduced in all four breast tumor cell lines, suggesting that Src was being activated by a phosphatase which could recognize the Tyr530 negative regulatory site. In fractionated cell extracts from the breast tumor cells, we found elevated levels of a membrane associated tyrosine phosphatase activity that preferentially dephosphorylated a Src family carboxy-terminal phosphopeptide containing the regulatory tyrosine 530 site. Src was hypophosphorylated in vivo at tyrosine 530 in at least two of the tumor cell lines, further suggesting that Src was being activated by a phosphatase in these cells. In preliminary immunoprecipitation and antibody depletion experiments, we were unable to correlate the major portion of this phosphatase activity with several known phosphatases.

Coordinate alteration of pp60c-src abundance and c-src RNA expression in human neuroblastoma variants.

We examined the expression, abundance, and protein kinase activity of pp60c-src in two different pairs of genetically indistinguishable cloned human neuroblastoma cell variants which display altered phenotypes as the result of conversion from a neuronal to a non-neuronal phenotype. The results demonstrate that cells which exhibit the neuroblastic (N-type) phenotype possess high levels of pp60c-src protein and that one of the two N-type cell lines is capable of expressing the neuronal-specific isoenzyme of pp60c-src. In contrast, cells which display the substrate-adherent (S-type) phenotype have low levels of pp60c-src protein and express exclusively the non-neuronal isoenzyme of pp60c-src. In all cells examined the abundance of pp60c-src was found to be proportional to the steady-state level of c-src RNA. In each case the protein kinase activity of pp60c-src was found to be proportional to the abundance of the protein and independent of the ratio of neuronal to non-neuronal species of pp60c-src.

An aberrant lck mRNA in two human T-cell lines.

Low stringency screening of a human T-cell cDNA library with a c-src probe resulted in the isolation of several cDNAs of approx. 800 base pairs. Sequence analysis revealed that these clones encoded partial cDNAs for the src-family tyrosine kinase p56lck. A novel feature of this partial cDNA was that it contained a 93 bp intron insertion that was not observed in other full length or partial lck cDNA. This aberrant lck RNA was also detected in the mRNA pool by Northern blotting and PCR amplification of poly(A)+ RNA isolated from two human leukemic T-cell lines.

Effect of heparin on phosphorylation site specificity of neuronal Cdc2-like kinase.

Neuronal Cdc2-like kinase (Nclk) can be stimulated by heparin in a substrate-dependent manner. While phosphorylation of tau is markedly enhanced by heparin, phosphorylation of histone H1 by Nclk is essentially unaffected. A histone H1 peptide, HS(9-18): PKTPKKAKKL, and its substitution analogues were used to examine the basis of the differential heparin effect. In the presence of heparin, the phosphorylation site specificity of Nclk is altered and only proline immediately following the phosphorylation site is still an essential substrate determinant. This change in the site specificity may adequately account for the differential heparin effect on histone H1 and tau phosphorylation.

Differentiation of B16 murine melanoma cells is associated with an increased level of c-SRC.

Elevated levels of c-SRC activity have been found in human melanocytes and some human melanoma cell lines. We examined c-SRC in B16 murine melanoma cells. B16-F0 non-metastatic melanoma cells contained threefold more c-SRC activity and protein than NIH 3T3 murine fibroblasts. Differentiation of B16-F1 metastatic melanoma cells with retinoic acid resulted in an elevation in c-SRC activity, protein and mRNA. The increase in c-SRC was detectable after about 48 h of retinoic acid treatment, as were changes in cellular morphology and growth rate. Thus, there is a correlation between differentiation and expression of c-SRC in B16 murine melanoma cells. These findings suggest a role for c-SRC in murine melanocyte differentiation or function.

Decreased CHK protein levels are associated with Src activation in colon cancer cells.

Src activation has been associated with colon cancers but the mechanism underlying Src activation is largely unknown. Csk-homologous kinase (CHK) can inhibit the kinase activity of certain Src kinase family members in vitro by phosphorylating the C-terminal tyrosine and by a non-catalytic mechanism. CHK was previously reported to be expressed primarily in brain and hematopoietic cells. We report herein that CHK is also expressed in normal colon cell lines. Furthermore, CHK protein levels are significantly decreased in various colon cancer cell lines and the decrease correlates with the increased specific activity of Src in these cell lines, while the level of the other Src inhibitory kinase, C-terminal Src kinase, is not significantly changed. CHK is also expressed in normal colon tissues but its expression level is decreased in colon cancer tissues collected from the same patients. Immunofluorescence microscopy shows that CHK colocalizes with Src in normal colon FHC cells. Overexpression of CHK in colon cancer cells results in inactivation of Src without phosphorylating Y530 at its C-terminus. In addition, CHK suppresses anchorage-independent cell growth and cell invasion of colon cancer cells. These results reveal a potentially important role for CHK in Src activation and tumorigenicity in colon cancer cells.

Morphf mutants of Rous sarcoma virus: nucleotide sequencing analysis suggests that a class of morphf mutants was generated through splicing of a cryptic intron.

The nature of the lesions involved in producing the fusiform phenotype of three mutants (WO101, WO201, and tsST529) of the Schmidt-Ruppin A strain of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) was determined by molecular cloning and DNA sequencing. WO101 and WO201 contained an in-frame deletion of the v-src region coding for amino acids 116 to 140 of p60v-src. The deleted segment was flanked by consensus splice donor and acceptor sequences and contained an appropriately positioned branchpoint acceptor consensus sequence, suggesting that the deletion occurred through an aberrant RNA splicing event. S1 mapping experiments performed on RNA isolated from chicken cells infected with molecularly cloned wild-type RSV DNA suggested that the splice acceptor involved in the generation of this deletion was utilized at a low frequency (less than 1.0%) in wild-type RSV-infected cells. These results suggested that stable mutations may have arisen in the coding sequence of a eucaryotic viral transforming gene as a result of a probable aberrant RNA splicing event followed by reverse transcription into DNA. ST529 was found to harbor the same deletion present in WO101 and WO201 but also contained a point mutation which resulted in the substitution of lysine for glutamic acid at position 93. This change and the resulting large change in local charge were presumably required for the temperature-sensitive transformation phenotype of ST529. These results, together with other known deletions that produce fusiform mutants, suggested that a region within the amino-terminal one-third coding region of the src gene contributed to a structural domain of p60v-src that was important for controlling some morphological parameters of transformation in cells infected with RSV.

p70 phosphorylation and binding to p56lck is an early event in interleukin-2-induced onset of cell cycle progression in T-lymphocytes.

The cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinase p56lck has been implicated as an effector of interleukin-2-induced cell division in T-lymphocytes, but little is known about physiological substrates for p56lck during these events. We have used p56lck fusion proteins to identify potential cytoplasmic signal transduction proteins that bind to p56lck in mitotically activated human peripheral blood lymphocytes and in constitutively dividing leukemic T-cell lines. In peripheral blood lymphocytes, we have observed an interleukin-2-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of a 70-kDa protein and binding of tyrosine phosphorylated p70 to the SH2 domain of p56lck. A 70-kDa phosphoprotein was also observed to constitutively bind p56lck in leukemic T-cells. Affinity purification of p56lck-associated p70 and sequencing of proteolytic fragments revealed identity to a 62-kDa protein that has been identified as a ras-GTPase activating protein. These results demonstrate a stimulation-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of p70 and its interaction with p56lck and may provide a link between p56lck and GTPase-mediated signal transduction pathways in activated T-lymphocytes.

Effect of nalidixic acid on deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in bacteriophage SPO1-infected Bacillus subtilis.

The effect of nalidixic acid on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis in Bacillus subtilis cells infected with bacteriophage SPO1 was studied. Nalidixic acid had little inhibitory effect on SPO1 DNA synthesis at concentrations that drastically inhibited B. subtilis DNA synthesis. Inhibition of DNA synthesis, appropriate to the concentration used, was imposed within 1 min after addition of nalidixic acid, suggesting that it acts directly on DNA synthesis in both infected and uninfected cells. The SPO1 DNA synthesized in the presence of high concentrations of nalidixic acid had a density characteristic of normal SPO1 DNA and was packaged into viable progeny phage particles, but its rate of synthesis was reduced and bacterial lysis was delayed.

Transient expression analysis of the reticuloendotheliosis virus long terminal repeat element.

A region of the Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) long terminal repeat (LTR) harbouring single or duplicated copies of 46-bp and 26-bp sequence elements is implicated in enhancer activity. Sequences residing upstream from the proviral 3' LTR did not contribute to activity of the intact LTR. Gene expression regulated by a combination of REV enhancer and SV40 early region promoter was 50-fold less than from the analogous construct containing the chicken syncytial virus promoter. Deletion of LTR sequences immediately downstream of the CAP site, which include a region capable of forming a stable hairpin in the mRNA, decreased expression by 70%. Expression assays and S1 nuclease mapping showed that a second transcriptional start site, identified by transcription in vitro using HeLa cell lysates and purified DNA templates, was not used in vivo in the cell lines examined.